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DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL 






INSTRUCTED 



IN A SERIES OF LETTERS. 



BY THE REY. RUFUS W.' BAILEY. 




PHILADELPHIA : 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 



NO. 821 CHESTNUT STREET. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, TreA8., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BT 

JESPER HARDING & SON, 

so. 57 SOUTH THraO STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



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The following Letters are collected and pub- 
lished nearly as they were originally written. They 
originated in a desire to meet the expressed will 
of a dying mother that two daughters of tender 
age should be educated for eternity. In all other 

respects, they explain themselves. 

(3) 






LETTER I. 

PAaE 

Education for Eternity, . . . . , . * 9 

LETTER n. 
Necessity of Personal Religion, . . . . . 14 

LETTER ni. 
Personal Religion, 20 

LETTER lY. 
Early Piety, 24 

LETTER Y. 
Early Piety, 29 

LETTER YI. 
Early Piety, 34 

LETTER Yn. 
A Sinner without Hope, ..*... 39 

LETTER Yin. 
The Sinner under Conviction, . . . . . 45 

LETTER IX. 

The Sinner under Conviction, 50 

1* (5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

LETTER X. 

PAQB 

The Sinner's Difficulties and Duty, .... 66 

LETTER XL 
The Sinner's Danger and Duty, 61 

LETTER Xn. 
Evidences of Personal Piety, . . • . . 67 

LETTER Xin. 
Evidences of Personal Piety, 73 

LETTER XIY. 

Standard of Christian Character, .... 77 

LETTER XY. 

Aim at High^Attaiuments in Religion, . . ^ . 81 

LETTER Xyi. 

Eminent Piety, * 88 

LETTER XVn. 
Principles and Habits, 96 

LETTER XYni. 

Principles Applied, . 102 

LETTER XIX. 
Formation of Habits, 106 

LETTER XX. 
Reading the Bible, . H4 

LETTER XXI. 
Private Meditation, 120 

LETTER XXII. 

Meditation, 126 

LETTER XXIII. 

Self-Examination and Secret Prayer, . . . .132 



CONTENTS. ? 

LETTER XXIY. 

PAGE 

The Result of a Holy Life, 139 

LETTER XXV. 
Physical Education, 147 

LETTER XXYI. 
Deportment of Pupils, . . . . , .155 

LETTER XXYn. 
Social Intercourse and Friendship, ..... 161 

LETTER XXYin. 
The Yirtue of Economy, 169 

LETTER XXIX. 

Early Principles Permanent, . % . » . .175 

LETTER XXX. 

Simplicity of Character, . . . . . . 182 

LETTER XXXI. 
Prudence, 187 

LETTER XXXn. 
Independence of Character, 194 

LETTER XXXnL 
Female Education, 203 

LETTER XXXIY. 
Early Education, . . . . . . . 210 

LETTER XXXY. 
Elementary Studies — Habits of Study, .... 214 

LETTER XXXYI. 
Course of Study — Mental Discipline, . . . .219 

LETTER XXXYII. 
On Reading, , . 228 



8 CONTENTS. 

LETTER XXXYIII. 

PAGB 

On Eeading, 232 

LETTER XXXIX. 
On Reading, ......,,. 237 

LETTER XL. 
Practical Advice, 243 

LETTER XLI. 
Practical Advice, 248 



LETTEE I. 

EDUCATION FOR ETERNITY. 

My dear Children: — The deep solicitude 
wliicli agitates the bosom of a parent is equalled 
only by the responsibilities which this relation 
imposes. In the early removal of your dear 
mother to a better world, this solicitude and these 
responsibilities press upon me with two-fold 
power. Although you can never realize them, 
nor appreciate the feelings by which my heart is 
deeply moved, I am often gratified to perceive, 
that the lapse of several years has not effaced your 
filial recollections of your departed parent, nor 
weakened the force of those peculiar and hallowed 
associations, by the aid of which a living parent at- 
tempts to enforce upon you her lessons of wisdom. 
It is with a desire to keep alive these associations, 
and to fulfil her expressed wishes, that I now 
propose to address to you a series of letters, pre- 
pared in my intervals of professional duties, and 

(9i 



10 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

commended to your prayerful and serious consi- 
deration, as the sacred and disinterested expres- 
sions of a parent's full heart. 

I need not urge assiduous application to your 
present duties. The expense at which I am fur- 
nishing you with the literary advantages of the 
most approved boarding school ; the limited period 
of time which the brevity of youth, the proper 
season for improvement, allows to these pursuits ; 
and the desire, as well as necessity, of returning 
again soon to the bosom of your surviving parent, 
all demand of you diligence in your studies. 
With the Reports received from your teachers, 
and my own knowledge of your progress, I have 
generally expressed to you my satisfaction. But 
I wish you always to be deeply impressed with 
the great and important truth, that this is but a 
small part of your education. 

Education ! how much is implied in that com- 
prehensive word, often so loosely employed! 
Confined even to a limited and literary course, it 
involves great responsibilities. But the education 
of an immortal soul for eternal life, how incon- 
ceivably solemn and momentous ! 

Your parents received you, my children, from 
the hand of God to be educated for him, and for 
eternity. They dedicated you to God in their 
hearts and by prayer, the first hour of your ex- 
istence. As soon as you were of suitable age to 



EDUCATION FOE ETERNITY. 11 

be carried to tlie house of God, both your parents 
presented you to the Lord in the sacramental form 
employed in our church, and suited to secure co- 
venant blessings to our children. You were bap- 
tized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost. Never shall I forget the 
solemnity and pious devotion with which your 
dear mother performed this part of her duty, nor 
the fervour and apparent faith with which she 
often pleaded the covenant promises of God on 
your behalf to the latest hour of her life. Imper- 
fectly, indeed, but truly, your parents have sought 
to give you a religious education. AVe shall meet 
you after a brief existence here, — how brief, we 
are admonished by the sudden and early death of 
your most excellent mother, — we shall meet where 
she now is, in eternity. 

I desire, therefore, to conduct your education 
for eternity. In all the separate parts of it, con- 
sider that you are under a course of education for 
eternity. Ask yourselves in every step of your 
progress, and in every branch of your studies or 
amusements, your labours or relaxations — " What 
bearing and influence is this to have on my eternal 
interests ?" Ask yourselves, " What will my mother, 
now in heaven, think of this ? Let me not grieve 
her pious soul, if she is permitted, as many sup- 
pose, to behold and know what is done on earth." 
Let a still higher motive even be brought to bear 



12 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

on your actions — the presence of God^ from wTiicli 
you can never escape. Ask yourselves — "How will 
God approve of this ?" and do nothing which will 
not stand that test. I know some think this will 
make us very gloomy, and spoil our joys, and 
weaken our energies. The opposite will be the 
fact. Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Matthew Hale, Mrs. 
Hannah More, and thousands of others among the 
most distinguished, and truly the greatest and most 
happy of our race, have gone through life in this 
way. 

Your education here is for eternity. This is not 
subject to our choice. We cannot alter the fact. 
Your education must be for eternity. You soon 
lose all your relations to this world, and retain for 
ever the peculiar relations, for which your cha- 
racter at death is found fitted. This character is 
formed in time. You are now forming it. Your 
education makes it. It is impossible, then, to 
elude the conclusion that you are under a course 
of education for eternity. Be satisfied with no- 
thing, then, in your conduct, employments or feel- 
ings, the eternal consequences of which you are 
afraid to meet. 

If you will admit this great truth to its proper 
and uninterrupted influence on all your decisions 
and actions, that you are immortal beings ; if you 
will think of this in every question of duty, I 
have no doubt I shall gain your cordial assent to 



EDUCATION FOR ETERNTTY. IB 

all the important views I now propose to offer to 
you — and what is of still more consequence, I 
shall secure your practical adoption of them. But 
this you will find to be a most difficult effort. 
Youth and its sanguine anticipations, the world 
and its pleasures, untried fields of promise and 
expectation are all to be contradicted, and the 
lessons of wisdom are to be substituted for the 
dictates of passions that are strong, and desires 
that are ardent, and glowing hope and anticipa- 
tion. When I tell you that youth is brief, and 
the pleasures of the world deceitful, and the pro- 
mise which speaks to young imagination is false, 
I agree with myself, but perhaps shall contradict 
you. Shall I be heard ? If that great truth can 
obtain a complete dominion in your minds, that 
you now act for eternity^ and if I can also make 
you feel that you must shortly die, then I shall be 
heard, and this effort, which has a single regard to 
your welfare, will be crowned with success. In 
my exertions to educate you for eternity, you will 
receive a blessing, and we may all be prepared to 
meet and rejoice with your dear mother in a sin- 
less world. 



14 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER II. 

NECESSITY OF PERSONAL RELIGION. 

My dear Children, — Personal religion lies 
at the foundation of every preparation for useful- 
ness or happiness, either in time or in eternity. 
It consists in a right state of feeling toward Grod, 
and consequently leads to a right course of acting 
under his government. With this simple defini- 
tion, is it not perfectly plain that you can never, 
under the divine government, be happy without 
religion ? Any happiness which you may be able 
to filch from forbidden sources, must be enjoyed 
under forgetfulness of God, and a temporary un- 
consciousness of his all-pervading presence. But 
this forgetfulness will soon give place to the ac- 
tion of a quick memory of the past, and a con- 
scious presence of God, from which the soul can 
never retire. "Acquaint thyself, therefore, now 
with God, and be at peace." 

One objection to an early attention to religion, 
and only one, I will notice — as with many it op- 
erates more than all others to suspend attention 
to it — ^"It spoils our joys." My dear children, I, 



NECESSITY OF PERSONAL RELIGION. 15 

"wlio give you sucTi proofs of a deep interest in 
your happiness, can I be suspected of a design to 
spoil your joys, to abridge your happiness ? I 
shall not be so suspected. I tell you, then, that 
the contrary is the fact. Will you believe me ? 
I refer you to facts. The most pious persons you 
have known or read of, — has their religion made 
them unhappy ? Has it not manifestly, and by 
their own testimony, been the source of their 
principal happiness ? And is not this a sufficient 
answer to the assertion, or suspicion, that " reli- 
gion spoils our joys ?" I refer you, finally, to your 
recollections of your dear mother. She mingled 
but little with the world. But was she not happy ? 
She was cheerful in society, not gay — but always 
most happy when engaged in religious conversa- 
tion, reading or devotion. Her religious char- 
acter commenced in early life, and if you would 
imitate her example, you must not delay to give 
attention to your own personal religion. It will 
not spoil your joys. It will increase them by 
opening larger and more permanent sources of 
happiness. I would rather hear that you have 
become religious, than to hear that you are count- 
ed among the first scholars in the school, and have 
taken the first honours in your classes. Yes, my 
dear children, dearer to me than any other pos- 
session, I would rather hear that you have died 
with a " good hope in Christ," than to hear that 



16 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

you are growing up in every useful attainment 
and mental endowment, but hardening in sin, and 
living "without hope and without God in the 
world." 

Your dear departed mother has - been heard 
speaking once on this subject from the borders 
of eternity ; her voice now comes from the in- 
structive grave. Her last three letters written to 
you I happen to have, preserved from many, 
which have been carelessly destroyed. She died 
on the 11th of November, 1832. These letters 
were written at intervals of about ^ye, two, and 
one month, previous to her decease. The first is 
dated June 18, as follows : — 

" My deak Childken, — -Your mother has not 
forgotten you, although she has so long delayed 
to answer your letters. Not a day passes but she 
thinks often and affectionately of her little daugh- 
ters, and prays that the precious privileges they 
enjoy of improving their minds and hearts, may 
not pass unemployed. Eemember, my dear girls, 
that youth is the most favourable time for storing 
the mind with useful knowledge, and that it is 
especially the season in which God, your heavenly 
father, has promised to be found of those who 
seek him — ' They that seek me early shall find 

me.' I rejoice to hear that the Lord is in C , 

by his Holy Spirit, waiting to be gracious to sin- 



NECESSITY OF PEESONAL EELIGION. 17 

ners, and that, many have come to him for that 
new heart, without which none of us can enter 
into heaven, that holy, happy place, where the 
Lord Jesus, that dear friend of sinners, reigns in 
all his glory, and where sin, or pain, or death, can 
never enter. My dear children, remember you 
were born with sinful natures, that you cannot 
do one action that is not tainted with sin, that you 
cannot even think a good thought without the 
help of the Holy Spirit, that the Bible, which is 
the eternal truth, declares that except ye be con- 
verted, or born again, you cannot enter into the 
kingdom of heaven ; and that now is the accepted 
time, and the day of salvation to all who are wil- 
ling to forsake their sins and come to Christ. 
Soon this short life will be over with us all ; with 
some very, very soon. Perhaps the next hour or 
next week may be our last on earth, and if you 
die without a new heart, you are lost — lost for 
ever ! There are no pardons offered in the grave. 
No Saviour there stands pleading for sinners. 

* But darkness, death, and long despair, 
Eeign in eternal silence there.' 

. " Oh think of these things, think of them daily, 
think of them seriously, and pray to God to im- 
press them deeply upon your hearts, that you may 
not forget them amidst the allurements and temp- 
tations of this world. Do you want to make your 
dear parents happy? Do you want to enjoy peace 



18 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

wliicli passetli understanding, in this world, and 
to be prepared to die with a song of praise upon 
your lips ? and above all, do you want to show 
your love and gratitude to Him who left his throne, 
and robe of dazzling glory, and canie into this 
world to die for his enemies ? Do you want to be 
made likefhim, and to dwell with him for ever in 
his ' Father's house,' where are ' many mansions ?' 
Oh, then, come to Jesus, now, in the morning of 
life. Give him your hearts. Commit your im- 
mortal souls into his hands to sanctify and redeem 
from sin, and you will find him faithful to per- 
form his promise, and ready and able to save you 
from all your sins and fears, and to do abundantly 
more and better for you than you can ask or 
think. And you will fill the hearts of your af- 
fectionate, anxious parents with joy and gratitude, 
beyond what they can ever express. 

" My dear children, such is my anxiety for your 
eternal salvation, and such my earnest desire that 
you may now hear the Saviour's voice, that I can- 
not refrain from writing in this urgent, importu- 
nate manner. Oh, do not disregard a tender mo- 
ther's earnest entreaties. Do not read this letter 
once in a careless, thoughtless manner, and think 
no more about it. But read it with prayer to 
God to sanctify it to you. Eead it as you would, 
if it were the last dying message of your dear 
mother — as if it were the last call you would 



NECESSITY OF PEESONAL EELIGION. 19 

ever have to repentance and life — and may God, 
who is rich in mercy to all who call upon his 
name, hear your earnest, fervent prayers for grace, 
and give you his Holy Spirit to sanctify and 
lead you into all truth. 

" When you write again, let me know if you want 
anything for your comfort, and especially let me 
know whether you do resolve to seek the Lord 
Jesus for your friend. Let me hear a good report 
of you in all things. ' Study to be quiet and to 
mind your own business.' Be affectionate and 
kind to all your companions, and especially in 
your intercourse as sisters. 

' Let love through all your actions run, 

Let all your words be mild, 
Live like the blessed Yirgin's son, 
That sweet and lovely child.' " 

Such is the letter which I now ask you to re- 
peruse, treasure up, and carefully meditate upon, 
as the dying instructions of your much loved mo- 
ther — and what they could not then avail in ar- 
resting your attention, and compelling your 
choice, may I not hope they will now do, when 
she speaks as from the grave, and when maturer 
years commend these lessons to your riper judg- 
ment and experience? 



20 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER III. 

PERSONAL RELIGION. 

My DEAR Children, — The second letter of your 
dear motlier to whicli I have alluded, and now in 
my possession, is dated September 2nd. The judi- 
cious and comprehensive instructions respecting 
your studies, contained in several of the first sen- 
tences, are a specimen of her matured and excel- 
lent views on education ; but it is to the religious 
thoughts urged upon you that I wish to direct 
your attention. The letter is as follows : — 

" My dear Children, — Your letters have 
given me much satisfaction. I am glad to see the 
improvement in your hand- writing, and hope you 
make good progress in all your studies. Your 
last Eeports speak very well of your recitations. 
You must try to understand perfectly all you un- 
dertake to learn, or it will do you very little good. 
I approve, Mary, of your studying Geography 
and History, rather than Mineralogy, at your 
present age. I wish you to obtain a thorough 
knowledge of Modern and Ancient Geography, 



PEESONAL RELIGION. 21' 

History, and Englisli Grammar, and be able to 
apply with readiness any of the rules of Arith- 
metic to the practical purposes of life, and then 
you can more profitably attend to other branches. 
Do not neglect your hand-writing, but try to 
write every line better than the last, and after you 
have formed a habit of writing with care, you 
will soon write with ease, as well as elegance. 

" My dear children, I need not tell you how 
much or often my thoughts dwell upon you, or 
how many anxieties fill my heart lest you suffer 
the precious morning of life to pass away, without 
forming your minds and heart to those habits of 
virtue and piety, which alone can secure your 
■usefulness and happiness, as you pass through the 
many changes and trials of this life, or secure your 
safety and felicity in that world where changes 
are unknown. Think often of your relations to 
God. He is your heavenly Father, from whom 
you have received life, and all the blessings you 
enjoy — and can you forget daily and hourly to 
thank him, and to show your gratitude by doing 
what he requires of you ? 

"Ask yourselves very often — For what was 
I placed in this world? Surely this is not the 
place where you will live for ever. Your friends 
and acquaintances are dying constantly about 
you, and their bodies are laid in the silent tomb, 
where there is ' no knowledge, or wisdom, or de- 



22 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

vice.' Their work is done, and tbeir account 
sealed up to the judgment day, when they will be 
called to give an account of all the deeds done in 
the body, and receive a reward according to their 
works. Those who have done the will of God by 
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and following 
him through this world of sin, will receive a 
crown of glory that fadeth not. But those who 
have hardened their hearts, and not listened to, 
nor obeyed the gospel, where, oh where will they 
appear? It will then be too late to pray for 
mercy. Jesus, the once kind and interceding Sa- 
viour, will then be their angry Judge. They must 
* go away into everlasting punishment.' 

"Apply these things to yourselves, and think — 
Must I, too, soon die ? Must I give an account to 
God for all my words, thoughts, and actions ? Is 
Jesus, the kind Saviour of sinners, now speaking 
to me in his gospel, to look unto him and be 
saved ? And shall I not look and live for ever ? 
Shall I not give him the morning, the best of my 
days, and all, perhaps, that I shall have to give, 
when he laid down his life for such sinners as I 
am ? And that, too, when this is not only the 
path of safety, but the only path of happiness ? 

" Oh, my children, think of these things, and lift 
up your hearts to God in prayer, that he may 
teach you, and impart to you that living faith, 
which will enable you to understand and receive 



PERSONAL RELIGION-. 23 

the gospel. If God is pleased to spare your lives, 
your parents will not long be here to care for, or 
instruct you. They too must die, and you know 
not how soon. Oh, let them see their children 
walking in the truth, and they will die in peace. 

" I did not think of saying so much on this sub- 
ject when I began this letter, but when I think 
of the worth of your souls, and the danger of 
your dying without securing your salvation, I 
feel that I cannot refrain from urging you to at- 
tend to these things without delay. Listen, my 
children, to the advice of a mother, as perhaps 
the last she will ever give. I wish you both to 
write soon after receiving this, and let me know 
what you want, and what are your thoughts and 
feelings upon that subject which occupies so much 
of your parents' anxious thoughts. 



24 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER IV. 

EAKLY PIETY. 

My deae Childeen, — The last letter of your 
dear mother, written to you about a month be- 
fore her death, I now commend to your serious 
re-perusal. 

" My deae Childeen", — I have been lately en- 
gaged in preparing the white dresses, which I 
send with this, and which you should have had 
earlier, but for the want of leisure to get them 
ready. You are old enough now to attend to your 
own clothes, and see that everything is in order, 
and in its proper place, and I hope you will feel 
a pleasure in doing it, and also in assisting each 
other to do the same. You can do much towards 
each other's improvement, as well as comfort. Be 
attentive and kind to each other at all times, and 
try to be thankful, that in possessing a sister, you 
each have a blessing that is denied to many. Let 
no unkind word pass between you, or envious 
feeling be harboured in your hearts, but conduct 
towards each other, every day, as you would if 



EARLY PIETY. 25 

you believed it to be tbe last day yon would live 
together ; and then, should it please your hea- 
venly Father to separate you, you will have no 
bitter reflections in reviewing your former inter 
course, but will be prepared to meet again in peace 
and love in a better world. 

" I was very much pleased with the letters you 

sent by Mrs. M , both with the improvement 

in your hand- writing, and also with the evidence 
that the subject upon which I last wrote you, and 
which, of all others, is the most important, had 
not passed entirely from your minds, but that you 
felt disposed to make inquiries, and to apply the 
truth to yourselves. 

" You say, my dear Mary, you * do not fully un- 
derstand the subject of conversion, and cannot 
feel that you are a greater sinner than any one 
else.' But do you not feel, my dear child, that you 
have a disposition or heart inclined to evil 
thoughts, to forgetfulness of God, your best and 
kindest friend, and to the neglect of his holy 
word? And is it not very difficult to fix your 
mind and heart entirely upon God, when you at- 
tempt to pray to him ? And are you not more 
ready to believe what the world and the wicked 
father of lies say, than what your Creator says, 
who loves you infinitely better than your earthly 
parents, or any earthly friend can ? Ask yourself 
these and the like (questions, praying to God to 
3 



26 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

enlighten and teacli jou, and you will soon dis- 
cover that your heart is by nature alienated from 
God, without true and holy love to him, and that, 
if you were to go to heaven with such feelings, 
where the whole employment is to praise and serve 
a holy God who hates sin, you could not be happy 
there. And then you will see how necessary it is 
that these evil inclinations should be subdued, and 
that you have a new heart given you, a heart 
which can love God supremely, because he hates 
sin, and is infinitely worthy to be loved, and 
which can hate and avoid sin, because it is opposed 
to such a holy God. 

"I do not think, my dear, it is required of you 
to feel that you have committed more sinful ac- 
tions than any others, for it is very true that you 
have not as many as thousands. But the evil is, 
you have just such a heart by nature as the most 
hardened sinner had, and if it should please God 
to leave you entirely to yourself to follow these 
evil inclinations, you would soon commit the same 
crimes and come to the same miserable end. Thus 
you see, it is not because you are by nature better 
than the greatest sinner, but because God has 
been pleased to keep you from temptations, to 
which others have been exposed. And let me as- 
sure you, my dear children, that if you sincerely 
look to him by humble prayer, he will ever thus 
keep you from the sins that are in the world. 



EAKLY PIETY. 27 

He will give you a riglit heart and put a right 
spirit within you, that you may be able to keep 
all his commandments, and rely on a Saviour's 
righteousness for salvation. 

" It is my anxious desire and daily prayer that 
you may understand this great subject, and early 
come to Christ, and learn of him to be meek and 
humble christians, and then you will know what 
conversion means, and enjoy that peace which all 
the riches or honours of this world can never 
give, and which all adverse or trying scenes can- 
not take away. I hope you both remember and 
read your precious Bibles every day — not as a 
task, but to understand what God says to you, for 
this is the only book in which you can learn his 
will. And here he plainly says, ' They that seek 
me early, shall find me.^ I can say no more at 
present, but commit you to the kind care of Him 
who is able to keep you from all evil, and to pre- 
sent you faultless before his throne of glory." 

Thus your dear mother closed her instructions 
to you, committing you to " Him who is able to 
keep you from evil." This she did frequently 
with fervency, and I trust with faith. She sunk 
into the grave rapidly, in an illness of ten days. 
She once only expressed a desire to live — it was 
for you, not for herself. Her care for you in the 
smallest matters is exhibited in these letters ; but 



28 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

the ruling desire of her heart stands out in bold 
relief — that you may be born again, as the chil- 
dren of God. I have copied some paragraphs 
which relate to smaller matters, that you may be 
influenced by them as the instructions of your 
dying mother, on several practical subjects of 
secondary, but great importance. It is to the 
most comprehensive and complete exhibition of 
the great interest of the soul, given by her in a 
few paragraphs, I shall call your attention, and 
endeavour only to enforce what she has, in the 
best manner, said. 



EARLY PIETY. 29 



LETTERV. 

EARLY PIETY. 

My dear Children: — On the subject of con- 
version I ask your prayerful attention to the 
instructions contained in the last letters of your 
dear mother. They present you an admirable 
and comprehensive view of the theology of the 
subject in the utterly depraved and helpless con- 
dition of the soul, the necessity of regeneration 
by the Holy Ghost, the duty of immediate re- 
pentance and faith in Christ, and the encourage- 
ment to personal exertion on the ground of the 
provisions and promises extended in the word of 
God. Then, your duty is enforced upon you by 
a solemn reference to the uncertainty of life, since 
made more impressive by her own early and sud- 
den decease ; and finally her full soul is poured 
out in the expression of a burning desire that you 
would embrace the precious promises made to 
those who seek God early. I shall now only at- 
tempt to enforce the last appeal. 

Is there great reward in keeping the command- 
ments of God ? Then the greatest reward is to 
3* 



80 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

those who keep them from their youth. Is the 
service of God, on the whole, to be preferred to 
the service of sin? then that service should be 
chosen at once. If youth sacrifices great enjoy- 
ments by renouncing the world, it avoids great 
temptations and hazards, and secures equally 
great religious pleasures. The ardour, and fresh- 
ness, and vigour which give a zest to the pleasures 
of this world to the young, prepare them also for 
a higher field of pleasurable exercise in religious 
pursuits. Every argument which can be urged 
in favour of a religious life, applies to youth with 
not less appropriateness than to age ; while some 
of the most important apply with much greater 
force, and others exclusively, to youth. By some 
of these arguments I shall urge the duty of early 
religion on my little daughters. 

There is a special promise: "they that seek me 
early shall find me." Whatever various applica- 
tions the term early may here admit of, there is 
no doubt it applies with peculiar emphasis to 
early life. It furnishes special encouragement to 
the young to seek the Lord. The Lord is well 
pleased with an early and prompt sacrifice. ' It is 
reasonable it should be so. By sin we provoke 
God to depart from us. He is, therefore, nearer 
to us in early life than when we have grown up 
in sin, so that there are really fewer difficulties in 
the way of a religious life in youth than in more 



EARLY PIETY. 31 

advanced years. Every sin presents an additional 
difficulty in our approaclies to God. All, who 
have carefully watched and observed the influence 
of sin, although their experience may be of limi- 
ted duration, can testify to the truth of this re- 
mark. We come with less facility to ask a favour 
where we are conscious of having inflicted an 
injury. You know it is your duty to give your 
hearts, in all their affections, to G-od. Kefusing to 
do this, you wrong your Benefactor, your Maker, 
as well as yourselves. This simple act of refusal 
diminishes your estimation of yourselves, and 
covers you with shame, and fills you with want 
of confidence in a consciousness of ill desert 
when you attempt to go again. Do you not feel 
less facility, as well as less inclination to pray, 
after you have omitted the stated duty, or been 
irregular in the performance of it ? You do. 
Here is the illustration. The difficulties multiply 
in an increasing ratio, as these duties are succes- 
sively neglected through successive periods of 
time. The farther we go from God, the deeper is 
the darkness which gathers upon our path, and 
the harder is it to retrace our steps. This is the 
united testimony of age, corroborated by your 
own brief experience. Hence the urgency of the 
duty to seek God early. Hence the propriety of 
the exhortation, and the truth of the promise. 
My children, will you not seek God early ? 



32 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

But there is a second argument by wliicli I 
urge upon your notice this promise of God, now 
called to your acceptance by the exhortation of 
your dear mother — it is the uncertainty of life. 
How uncertain, you have been taught by painful 
experience, by the death of a sister much yotmger 
than yourselves, and more recently by the sudden 
decease of the watchful guardian of your earlier 
years, whose counsels and care were of the high- 
est importance to you. These letters, which the 
loss of her maternal counsels alone has called 
forth, are to you a memento of the uncertainty of 
life. I believe either of you would shudder at 
the thought of dying, destitute of personal reli- 
gion. Let that thought possess your minds under 
a full conviction of all the uncertainty of life, and 
I am sure there must be an awakening in your 
thoughtful minds, which will not easily be 
quieted. The certainty of death — and the uncer- 
tainty of life! Oh, how these truths press on the 
interests of the immortal soul ! Think, my chil- 
dren I to die with no interest in the Saviour, to 
die young — to meet your departed mother beyond 
the grave, and we shall meet her ; what is more, 
to meet God your Judge, having been thus urged 
to seek him early — to die young with no interest 
in the atoning blood of Christ, can you entertain 
the thought? and yet, can you deliberately dis- 
miss it under such a pressure of motives to dwell 



EAELY PIETY. 83 

upon it ? To grow up in sin, and harden under 
the distinguished means of grace you enjoy, to 
risk all the difficulties of a deferred repentance, 
and then to think of the possibility of dying ac- 
cursed in old age, can you endure the thought ? 
Can you shield your hearts against the multiplied 
and pressing motives to immediate repentance ? 
My dear children, think of the uncertainty of 
life, and then say, will you seek the Lord early 
while he may be found? Will you call upon 
him while he is near ? 



84. DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER VI. 

EARLY PIETY. 

My DEAR Children", — Simply to be religious 
neither fulfils our duty nor brings to us our full 
privilege. We ougbt to strive to be eminently 
good. This will make us eminently useful and 
eminently happy. There are many who make a 
religious profession, and who seem to give a 
general evidence that they are sincere. "We cannot 
question their piety. And yet they have no zeal, 
and exert but little influence. There are others 
who are active and efB.cient, happy and joyful in 
their religion. I do not doubt you would desire 
to be classed with the latter. 

This difference of character depends on two 
causes — the thoroughness of the work of grace on 
the heart, and the period of life at which that work 
is accomplished. The work of grace is God's, and 
in the specific act of regeneration we are the pas- 
sive subjects of a divine efficiency, yet nothing is 
more obvious than the truth that the direction of 
our minds to religious subjects, and the degree of 
interest they gain, and influence they exert, de- 



EAELY PIETY. 85 

pend, to a great extent, on tlie use or employment 
of powers over whicli we have a control, and for 
the employment of which, therefore, we shall be 
held responsible as moral agents. You can use 
the means of grace or neglect them. You can 
dismiss one train of thought and adopt another of 
an opposite character and influence. You can 
withdraw your attention from one set of objects 
and direct it to another. This mental discipline 
is your own, and is sufficient to show you that 
the work of grace on the heart may be invited, 
and entertained, or resisted by you — and also that 
its thoroughness depends very much on yourselves. 
If you " resist the Holy Ghost," you " grieve him 
fiway." If you seek him early, " he will be 
found." 

Another reason for the difference which we see 
in christian character may be looked for in the 
period of life when that character is formed. 
Those who begin early have every advantage. 
They commence a course of discipline and learn- 
ing in the school of Christ, before habits are formed 
which must be abandoned — sins indulged which 
must embitter every hour of future life — and while 
the young affections are ardent to embrace zeal- 
ously, and identify themselves with, their object. 
Early christians make the best, the most eminent 
christians. They have their whole lives to grow 
in knowledge and in grace. There is one other 



36 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

consideration — God requires our best service. It 
is a high indignity we offer to him, when we with- 
hold the first fruits, the best, and bring as an offer- 
ing to him the maimed, the halt and the blind. 
My children, will you not give your early life, 
your youth, to the service of God ? 

Another argument may be drawn from a regard 
to your own personal happiness. Our religious 
joys depend on the reflections and convictions of 
our own minds. How elevated and pure must be 
that joy which attends a sense of duty faithfully, 
fearlessly, and always rendered ! Conscience awards 
its approbation, and harmonizes with all the powers 
of the soul in a universal homage to the law. 
You can read your own history without a blush, 
and review the past with pleasure. You will, in- 
deed, find subjects for humiliation and repentance, 
but an enlightened conscience has been regarded 
in the admonitions it gave, and the understanding, 
illuminated by the Holy Spirit, has been allowed 
to teach. Far different will be the reflections of 
mature years and of old age, if you now succeed 
in silencing the voice of the divine Teacher, and 
in shutting out the light he sheds upon the mind. 

Shall I not add — your best and constant service 
is due to God ? You owe him all. Do you intend 
to secure an interest in his love before you die ? 
Do it now. Can you not bear the thought of 
dying his enemy ? Do not, then, suffer yourselves 



EARLY PIETY. 87 

to live his enemy for a single day. If he deserves 
your love, he deserves your early love. If he de- 
serves your service, surely you ought not to be 
willing to offer him the precarious remnant of old 
age, decrepitude and sin. Come, then, without 
delay, and give yourselves to God. Dedicate your- 
selves in all you have, and all you are to him, and 
you will find, in the service of religion, pleasures 
which will more than compensate for all you leave 
when you " forsake the world." 

In regard to the difficalties you may imagine or 
realize to obstruct your way, I have only to say 
— tell them all to God. There is an open throne 
of grace. Do you " not understand the subject of 
conversion ?" — reverently express your ignorance 
to God and pray for light. Do you find darkuess 
and difficulties in the way ? Lay them all before 
your heavenly Father, and pray for their removal. 
The pious women who went to the sepulchre on 
the morning of the resurrection, inquired of one 
another as they went, " Who shall roll us away the 
stone from the door of the sepulchre?" But when 
they arrived, they found the stone rolled away, 
and their faith was confirmed. Just so it often is 
with sinners, who expect great and insuperable 
difficulties to obstruct their way. These difficul- 
ties often give way, or are entirely removed as 
they proceed, while those who have been discou- 
raged by the prospect of them, continue and die 
4 



38 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

in their sins. Instead of complaining and suffer- 
ing discouragement — pray. Go forward — it is 
your life. 

My dear children, I solemnly admonish you to 
lay at the foundation of your education the culti- 
vation of personal religion. Eternity! do you 
comprehend it ? As much as its duration exceeds 
the measure of a day, does the importance of re- 
ligion exceed every other object of personal effort 
or attainment. Eemember, always, that your ed- 
ucation is for eternity, and " whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth 
to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption — 
but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spi- 
rit reap life everlasting." Youth is the seed time 
of what we shall reap in old age, and time ripens 
the fruit which we gather, in eternity. 



A SINN'ER WITHOUT HOPE. 89 



LETTER VII. 

A SINNER WITHOUT HOPE. 

My dear Harriet, —Two letters received with- 
in a few days from your dear sister, have filled 
my heart with inexpressible joy. They inform 
me that a revival of religion has commenced in 
your school, that many young ladies are anxiously 
inquiring what they shall do to be saved, that 
several have already obtained' a hope of pardon, 
and that she humbly places her own name with 
the latter class. But in the midst of my joy for 
one child saved, how does my mind hurry back, 
under the deep impulse of parental anxiety, to 
inquire for the other left in ruin ! My dear Har- 
riet, how is it with you? The silence observed 
towards my last note asking this question, is por- 
tentous, and full of expressiveness. If you felt 
an evidence of pardon and acceptance with God, 
you would be ready to speak for your Saviour. 
I receive your silence as a sad negation to my ar- 
dent desires, my fervent prayers and cherished 
hopes — ^you have no hope ! 

In this simple attitude then, I propose now to 



40 DAUaHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

address you. Dear and cherislied in the natural 
affection and sympatiiy of a father, spared as a 
monument of divine forbearance, called to repent- 
ance by the ministry, the word, and the Spirit 
of God — ^you are still a sinner, an unpardoned, 
condemned sinner. 

I shall attempt to fix your attention on a few 
plain, but important and fundamental truths, 
which I ask you seriously to examine, and then 
give me the result of your deliberate thoughts. 

You live under a government of laws. To un- 
derstand your case then, you have only to consi- 
der the nature and extent of the divine law, and 
what you have done under that law. 

The law of God is the eternal rule of right, 
which depends on his own nature, and which he 
applies to regulate the conduct of his creatures. 
As it depends upon, and grows out of, his nature, 
it exhibits his moral character and perfections; 
and we love God when we love his law, and hate 
God when we feel an enmity to the strictness and 
purity of his law. Obedience to the law, there- 
fore, is always the best evidence of love to God, 
and disobedience is a proof of enmity. This law 
is summarily comprehended in the Ten Command- 
ments. The first four of these are called the first 
table, and relate to the duties we owe to God. 
The last six are called the second table, and com- 
prise our duties to our fellow men. These com- 



A SINNEE WITHOUT HOPE. 41 

mandments were originally given in tlieir present 
form with mucli ceremony to the children of Is- 
rael at Sinai, and written by Moses on two tables 
or tablets of stone. An epitome of these two ta- 
bles was given by our Saviour in two sentences : 
*' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy mind." " And thou shalt 
love thy neighbour as thyself." The first table 
requires the exercise of love to God ; and the 
second table, the exercise of love to man. In his 
sermon on the mount, and at other times, the Sa- 
viour explains and applies this law as not only 
embracing our actions, but as reaching to all the 
thoughts and intents of the heart. God, omni- 
scient and omnipresent, applies it thus strictly at 
all times, and in all places, throughout his moral 
universe. 

The law of God, then, of which the sinner often 
entertains such vague notions, is very definite, 
readily comprehended even by a child, and easily 
applied. It regards the state of our hearts, and re- 
quires the exercise of love, pure, fervent and un- 
interrupted love to God and his creatures. Here 
our attention is withdrawn from all those per- 
plexities which embarrass us in some of its 
mysteries, and also in every attempt to make 
out a balance sheet in a commercial debt and 
credit of good and bad deeds, according to our 
standard pr the world's judgment of right and 
4* 



42 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

wrong. We are also relieved from the difficulties 
of that other plan of investigation, where we com- 
pare our characters with others for approbation or 
censure, as we may be better or worse than they 
are. The law of God is the standard ; the state of 
heart is the action. The standard requires the ex- 
ercise of positive love to God in the whole heart 
and soul and mind ; in other words, in our whole 
intelligent and moral existence. The failure of 
this service is the action of the heart, which brings 
it into condemnation. This leads us directly to 
the subject matter of all the sinner's difficulty. 
You need not be troubled to decide the question 
whether you positively hate God. Do you posi- 
tively love him ? Do you approve of, admire and 
love that holy law, which condemns you as a sin- 
ner ? Is it, in your estimation, " holy and just 
and good ?" 

It is a transcript of God's character, and when 
you love the law in its strict application to your- 
self, you love God. When you reject those appli- 
cations of the law, or cannot sustain them, you 
hate God. 

Here, then, you may easily see what kind of a 
sinner you have been. God says — " Give me thy 
heart." This you have withheld, and bestowed its 
affections on the creature. This is your sin. You 
need not say you have never murdered, nor lied, 
nor sworn profanely, nor stolen, nor coveted, nor 



A SINNER WITHOUT HOPE. 43 

worsliipped idols. You have withheld from God 
your whole heart. Every moment you have done 
this, you have violated his law — you have incurred 
its penalty. Now, if you will count up the number 
of seconds you have lived since you were capable 
of understanding your duty, you will have the 
number of your actual sins in one particular, of 
one class only. All your other sins of every other 
kind are still to be added. O my child, what a 
sinner you have been I How can you answer for 
one of a thousand ? May the Spirit of God teach 
you what a weight of 'guilt you carry with you to 
the judgment bar. 

But to feel, to realize that you are a sinner — this 
is what you need. It is the nature of sin to harden 
the heart and pervert the understanding. Hence, 
sinners in the scriptures are called fools, because 
" having hearts," they act as if they " understood 
not." This effect of sin is often seen under the 
operation of human laws. A criminal arrested, 
charged with high crimes, and committed to prison, 
insensible to his guilt before arrest, often remains 
insensible and hardened. But let this criminal, 
charged with a capital offence against the laws, be 
brought out into open court ; let him be arraigned, 
bis crime defined and proved, and the law applied 
to the case ; let judgment be solemnly pronounced 
■upon him, the time and place of his execution ap- 
pointed, and let him be remanded to his prison to 



4:4 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

await tlie sentence of the law. What then ? It 
becomes real to him. He tries his native strength 
in vain to break through the walls which justice 
has built to hold him to the sentence of the law. 
He cannot force the massy bars by which he is 
held to answer for his crime. He is condemned. 
He knows it. He is left alone to feel that judgment 
has been passed upon him, and he awaits execu- 
tion. Here it is very difi&cult for the sinner to 
stifle conviction, and remain insensible to his ruin. 
This is precisely what you need to feel as a con- 
demned sinner under the divine law. You are 
not in heaven, because not finally justified ; not in 
hell, because not finally and irreversibly con- 
demned. But you are on earth, a prisoner of 
hope; condemned and awaiting execution, but 
under a dispensation of mercy to see if you will 
not repent. What you need now is to feel, to 
realize precisely what the poor condemned criminal 
under law realizes when all hope of escape has 
fled for ever. You are in prison under sentence 
of death, temporal, spiritual and eternal death. 
You cannot escape. If you could leap the limits 
of this earth, you could not go beyond the universe 
of God, nor elude his observation, nor transcend 
the almighty power by which beholds you. This, 
my dear child, is what I desire you to feel. It is 
what we call conviction of sin. 



THE SINNER UNDER CONVICTION. 45 



LETTER VIII. 

THE SINNER UNDER CONVICTION. 

My dear Harriet, — Conviction of sin is effected 
in the heart by the special operations of the Holy 
Spirit. It is his work. He " reproves the world 
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." By 
the operation of a divine energy, he anticipates 
to the sinner's mind the judgment to come. This 
he does by producing in the mind, clear percep- 
tions of the divine law in its nature and extent, 
by bringing to remembrance past sins in their 
multitude and enormity, and by applying the law 
to the case, so that his utter ruin and hopelessness 
under the regular operation of the divine govern- 
ment are clearly seen and realized. So lost is the 
sinner, that he is never fully sensible of his ruin, 
until the Spirit of God, by an almighty agency, 
brings him thus into judgment. Hence the value 
of those favoured seasons, when, as at Pentecost, 
this divine agency is exerted. Hence the privi- 
lege now enjoyed by you in a revival of religion, 
which this divine operation is carrying forward 
at B . Oh, how important that you should 



46 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

cherish these heavenly and gracious influences ! 
Mj dear child, are you convinced that you are a 
sinner ? Then you need a Saviour. Are yoa such 
a sinner as I have described ? Then you under- 
stand what kind of a Saviour you need. Do you 
ask, are you now awakened to the inquiry — 
" What shall I do to be saved?'' Then I will lead 
your mind to another doctrine in the glorious 
plan of redemption. 

- To the sinner, condemned under the broken 
law of God, there is no hope of escape but in a 
dispensation of mercy. There is no help in him- 
self, and if he cannot find, as under human laws, 
a pardoning power, he is utterly, hopelessly lost. 
But the law of God, being a transcript of his char- 
acter, is necessarily immutable, and this is the law 
whose penalty has been incurred. What then 
can be done ? Who can control this law ? The 
immutable God cannot change it. Here you may 
be led to see what kind of a Saviour you need. 
And you Can appreciate the value and necessity 
of a Mediator, who, in a divine nature, as " Bays- 
man," may " lay his hand" upon the offended Law- 
maker, and as Man, " lay his hand" upon the of- 
fending creatures, to treat for us, and bring us 
together ; who, besides this, can make an atone- 
ment by which the law may be satisfied, and its 
penalty paid, and who may come in to accomplish 
this reconciliation, "not by destroying, but by 
fulfilling the law." 



THE SINNER UNDER CONVICTION. 47 

To the Son of God, then, the Eternal Word, 
the second person in the blessed Trinity, the atten- 
tion of the convicted sinner is directed. As God 
Man, Mediator, he says, " Look nnto me and be 
saved." " He bore our sins in his own body on 
the tree." " He is the end of the law for right- 
eousness to every one that believeth." IS'ow, 
then, it is declared, "He that helieveth shall be 
saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." 
" There is now no condemnation to them that are in 
Christ Jesus." 

My dear child, here is a plan of redemption. 
It is a complete, glorious, safe plan. Are you a 
lost sinner ? Christ " came to seek and to save 
them that were lost." Are you a sinner against 
an immutable law ? The Maker of that law, in a 
" mystery," " has borne your sins in his own body 
on the tree." He has fulfilled that law. Are you 
a depraved sinner ? " The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth from all sin." " Who is he that con- 
demneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that 
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of 
God, who also maketh intercession for us." " It 
is God that justifieth." 

Here is a glorious plan of redemption. It 
brings into the experience of the redeemed sinner 
an illustration of the glorious character of God 
in the doctrine of the blessed Trinity. It goes 
to the root of the evil of sin, and extirpates it* 



48 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

It probes our wounds to the bottom, and heals 
them. It enters into the heart, the seat of our 
moral disease, and " cleanses it from all sin." 

Do you still ask how you shall believe ? I re- 
fer you again to the criminal in prison under sen- 
tence of death for the violation of a human law. 
Suppose you were that criminal thus condemned. 
Suppose your days were numbered and finished, 
and the sun had lighted up the last day of your 
gloomy confinement. Suppose while you were 
anxiously expecting the officers of justice to attend 
the last sad ceremonies of execution, your prison 
door should open to introduce to you a minister 
of religion, who, instead of the iron grasp of the 
executioner, should take your hand with a benig- 
nant smile, which assured you that he could feel 
for you and seek your welfare. He had obtained 
admittance in his official character as a minister 
of mercy. He tells you the gallows is erected, 
and the ministers of justice are at the door. 
There is but one hope for your life. Assume his 
apparel, and pass out in his name, and in his 
character, while he takes your place and averts 
the execution of the penalty from you. You 
might hesitate to save your own life, being guilty, 
by the substitution of an innocent sufferer. But 
he assures you that he will take care of that, and 
approve his plan to you when he shall himself 
come forth with life, and give you an opportunity 



THE SINNER UNDEE CONVICTION. 49 

to express your gratitude, and hail him as your 
benefactor. "What would you do? Would not 
such love melt jout heart ? Would you find any 
difficulty in believing him, and regulating your 
action accordingly ? Now here is a practical il- 
lustration. In your distress and exposure, let 
the love of Christ melt your heart. He enters 
your prison a messenger of mercy, and casts the 
robe of his own righteousness about you, and 
bids you go forth in his name and leave the rest 
to him. ^^ Believe J and be saved." Now, cannot 
you believe? A lost sinner, and feeling your ut- 
ter ruin and helplessness, and not see the beauty 
and strength there is in Christ ! Not able to trust 
him as a Saviour ! Then you must be lost. " There 
is no other name given under heaven whereby we 
must be saved." My dear child, come right to 
Christ, just as you are in your sins, and cast your- 
self on his mercy. Say, " God be merciful to me 
a sinner." " Lord, save me, or I perish." " Lord, 
I believe, help thou my unbelief." Do this, cher- 
ishing the same divine influences, by which you 
have been taught your danger and your helpless- 
ness, and then tell me the result, 
5 



50 DAUailTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTEE IX. 

THE SINNER UNDER CONVICTION. 

My dear Harriet: — I regard your mind as 
awakened to a sense of your danger, when you 
say you " feel that you are a great sinner in the 
sight of God." 

If you feel this, my dear child, I bless God — it 
is from him — it is not of yourself. It is the work 
of his Spirit. Sinners, in the power and pride of 
their own minds, speculate and theorize, they do 
not feel. You say you feel, realize, that you are 
a sinner. Here then is the application of the 
truth. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to " re- 
prove, convince the world of sin." This the sin- 
ner never feels personally, except under the in- 
fluence of this divine agency. 

But you " feel that you are a great sinner" — you 
feel that you are a sinner and a great sinner. 
Surely, my child, this is of God. Sinners, by 
their own rule and their own light, are not dis- 
posed to regard themselves as great sinners, be- 
cause they do not consider the spirituality and 
extent and strictness of the divine law, and its 



THE SINNER UNDER CONVICTION. 51 

application especially to themselves. They com- 
pare themselves with themselves, and judge by 
rules they have formed or at least perverted, and 
always with great allowance in their own favour. 
Thus, like Saul of Tarsus, they are " alive without 
the law" or without the application of it. But 
when the " commandment comes," or is applied to 
themselves, they feel, like the same offender, now 
become a distinguished disciple, that they are " the 
chief of sinners." If you had committed but a 
single sin, and standing alone with no comparison 
of your guilt with others, if you judge yourself 
by the strictness of God's law, you must feel that 
you are a great sinner. This is what the Spirit 
of God invariably teaches, and no one, who has 
not felt this, has ever been taught of God, has 
ever yet taken the first step in christian experi- 
ence. 

But you say you feel also that you are a great 
sinner — " in the sight of God." Here is something 
of serious import — in the sight of God ! The sin- 
ner commonly goes on in sin, not realizing that 
God sees him.. He lives quietly in his guilt, be- 
cause he shuts his eyes to his own sin, while he 
rolls it as a sweet morsel under his tongae, and it 
is in his mouth sweet as honey. But when the 
law is announced, and he understands it, he per- 
ceives the presence of God. He is present in that 
law, which is a transcript of his character. Then 



52 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

the sinner sees his own wickedness, not in compa- 
rison with other sinners, but in direct contrast 
with the character of Grod. Here he is a " sinner 
in the sight of God." 

Are you a " sinner in the sight of God ?" Do 
you mean to say that you have those views of the 
purity and holiness of the divine character and 
the divine law, which have bid you " feel that you 
are a great sinner in his sight ?" Then, my dear 
child, God has spoken to you. Oh, listen while 
he speaks ! Give your attention. Cherish, with 
the most lively anxiety, those divine illuminations. 
God from his throne speaks to you. 

These seasons of special awakening are of great 
and eventful moment in the sinner's history. He 
is roused from his common lethargy and uncon- 
cern, and. is brought into the presence of God — to 
see himself a sinner before God and his judge — to 
see the law of God, in all its strictness and justice, 
applied to his actual life. To recede from the 
convictions and calls of 'such divine illuminations, 
is to repel the counsels and threatenings of God 
distinctly heard, and to go away from his presence. 
Once slighted, these calls are rarely repeated with 
equal impressiveness ; these lessons are seldom 
given again with equal power to arrest attention. 
Therefore, I say, cherish these divine influences, 
and yield to the strong convictions of the present 
favoured mediatorial hour. 



THE SINNER UNDER CONVICTION. 53 

The scripture direction given to a "great sinner 
in the sight of God," I employed in the instruc- 
tions of my last letter. " Repent and believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ." If you see yourself a 
sinner in the sight of God, you see what a loath- 
some object you are, as all sinners are, in his pre- 
sence. You must then abhor yourself as Job did, 
when he saw God in the purity of his character; 
and you must repent, or be sorry for your sins, as 
in dust and ashes. 

Are you in this low condition — a poor con- 
demned and ruined sinner in the convictions of 
your own mind ? Then how loathsome an object 
must you be in the sight of God who is of purer 
eyes than to behold iniquity ; in whose sight the 
heavens are said to be unclean, and who charges 
his angels with folly ! Now what can you do ? 
How helpless ! What do you desire? How guilty ! 
What can you enjoy ? How utterly unfit for hea- 
ven I You cannot dwell with God. You cannot 
commune with angels. You must, in your sins, 
be cast down to hell. 

But the repentance of the sinner here may not 
be that of despair. Hope cheers the darkness, and 
chases away despair, when it is added, " Believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ." If you abhor sin, and 
yourself on account of sin, then " look to the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
world." " He that believeth shall be saved." 
5* 



51 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

This is God's work. And while it is commit- 
ted, in the ministrations of the truth, to human 
agencies, our limits of knowledge and ability are 
placed where the power and excellency will be 
made to appear of God and not of man. 

My dear child, I can point you to Christ, I can 
commend you to him, I can discharge my duty to 
you, and give you into his hands — there I must 
leave you. You must trust in him, you must be- 
lieve in him. The act must be your own, and for 
yourself. I cannot believe for you. He cannot 
exercise that for you which can bring you peace, 
only as an act of your own distinctive and sepa- 
rate mind. , You must exercise, by the aid of that 
divine agency which realizes to you your guilt — 
you must exercise faith in Christ. 

Here I must leave you. To humble us, and 
show us that we are limited in power, and weak, 
we are left in obscurity, where the grace of God 
comes in to our relief, and where relief can come 
to him only who feels his weakness and de- 
pendence, and cries, in the exercise of faith in 
Jesus Christ, as a Saviour, " Lord, help me, or I 
perish." 

Cherish, then, the influences of the Holy Spirit, 
feeling your dependence on divine teachings. 
Let not this favoured season of revival leave you 
in impenitence, hardened in sin. If you cannot 
see the whole process by which you are brought 



THE SINNER UNDER CONVICTION. 55 

into a living and saving union to the Lord Jesus 
Christ, venture on his promises, and "feeling that 
you are a great sinner in the sight of God," plead, 
as you are authorized to do, his atoning blood, 
while you cast yourself on his grace. 



56 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTEU X. 

THE SINNEE's difficulties AND DUTIES. 

My deae Haeeiet,— Although the direction 
is plain and explicit, " Eepent and believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, "—yet 
the sinner under conviction often finds himself 
surrounded with difficulties, which perplex his 
way, and retard his progress. He still asks. How 
shall I believe ? His perceptions of truth are ob- 
scure, his definitions of them indistinct ; and the 
finite being, who would lead the mind to rest, 
deeply feels that, which it is absolutely necessary 
should be felt by the inquirer himself, the neces- 
sity of divine teachings. God has been pleased to 
leave the work of regeneration so involved, that 
the excellency, the power, and the glory may be 
seen to be of Grod and not of man. 

Many of the difficulties, however, which the 
sinner entertains in his own mind, and suffers to 
obstruct his way, are of his own imagining. Eeal 
difficulties are often overlooked, while the sinner 
is careless and unconcerned ; but when awakened, 
nothing is more common than misguided fears, 



THE sinner's difficulties AND DUTIES. 57 

and ill-judged efforts, and unworthy apprehen- 
sions, and those views of duty which paralyze 
effort, and impede his progress in the truth. 

When the sinner admits his dependence on di- 
vine influences, and feels his own weakness, he is 
disposed to apply this great and necessary truth 
to a fatal use, and conclude he has nothing to do. 
He therefore waits for impulses, and looks for the 
exercise of a divine agency, as the only moving 
power. He surrenders the glorious attributes of 
his moral constitution, and submits to be acted on, 
as if his mind, like his body, were material, and 
ruled by the same laws. But there are no divine 
agencies employed in the work of the sinner's 
conversion, which set aside his own agency. The 
Holy Spirit does not invade the freedom of the 
will, nor act but in accordance with the laws of 
the human mind. There are acts which belong 
appropriately and distinctly to the sinner which 
must be his own, and which no power can per- 
form by substitution. He must repent and be- 
lieve. These are voluntary acts of his own, and 
no invasion of his personal action will ever take 
place to produce them, independent of his volun- 
tary agency. 

Has God made it our duty to repent and be- 
lieve in Christ ? He has. Has he given us evi- 
dence of his sincerity in calling us to this duty ? 
He has. He has laid in the plan a sure foundation 



58 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

for our salvation, and has realized its efficacy to 
all wlio have ventured on it. He has never said 
to any, " Seek ye me in vain." And yet he has 
said that he will be " sought unto" — and " they 
that seek shall find." 

Do you then feel that you are a sinner, and as 
such justly exposed to the curse of the law ? Act 
under this feeling. Has God called you to re- 
pentance ? Eepent. Has the word of unerring 
truth said, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and 
thou shalt be saved?" Then "believe and be 
saved." 

Here are plain practical duties attended with 
a blessing. They are plain — they are practical — 
prescribed by God — prescribed to us. ISTo one 
who neglects these can find a blessing. Has ever 
any one who has obeyed, failed of the blessing ? 
Kot one. Duty then is plain. It is not for us 
to speculate, and object, and find fault. "We are 
guilty. We are dying. God has told us what 
to do. 

Go, my child, directly to God with your feel- 
ings. You can come to me with them. Go to 
your heavenly parent. You can confide in me. 
You can confide still more in him. You have 
acted under the impulse of feeling that has led 
you astray. Do not refuse to act under a safer 
feeling. 

Perhaps you may be disposed to say that your 



THE SINNER^S DIFFICULTIES AND DUTIES. 59 

feeling is too weak or inconstant — that if you had 
more which would bear you through, or if it were 
unchangeable and permanent, you would commit 
yourself, and act under the direction of it. But 
do you never act on less important matters, and 
with less conviction of your own correctness, 
where you have no more feeling than now — and 
has not that feeling strengthened by exercise ? 
And is this not the nature of all feeling ? And 
will you refuse only in the best things to cherish 
your feelings, unless they are of power to control 
you ? You have understanding also. Use that. 
Are you afraid of the consequences of sin ? Op- 
pose it. 

There is no definable measure of feeling or con- 
viction necessary to prepare you to carry your 
case to God. It is simply sufficient that you feel 
yourself to be a sinner, and that you are encour- 
aged to come to Christ. Come then with the feel- 
ing and conviction that you have. Confess your 
sin to God. Have you difficulties ? Tell them 
at a throne of grace. Dwell upon your sins. Set 
them in order before you. Hide them not from 
your own view. Have others expressed stronger 
feelings than you have ? Do not, therefore, reject 
the least. It is enough if God, in infinite mercy, 
deigns to lead you, although in a way beset by 
difficulties. Does God call you? Say, ''Here am 
I," — and go, my child. 



60 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

The blessings of God are often slig"hted because 
lie does not bestow beyond measure. Others have 
felt and enjoyed more. But it is not those who 
have felt and enjoyed most, who hold on best to 
the end. Their very mercies puff them up, and 
prepare them for a fall ; while those who are in 
more humble circumstances, by diligence and hu- 
mility advance permanently and are safe. By 
diligence and perseverance, the snail may outstrip 
the rapid but inconstant deer. 

Are you an awakened sinner ? Bless God that 
you are not a careless sinner, that you are not in 
hell. Oh, think not lightly of a single feeling of 
awakening and conviction. Trifle not with the 
least indication of the Spirit's influence, as if you 
could recall it when it is gone. With an easy 
motion of the hand you might brush away from 
you a hair, a thread, a chain, let down from hea- 
ven, fastened to the throne of God ; but when 
once so carelessly done, no power short of that 
which wheels and holds the planets in their or- 
bits, could bring it again within your reach, could 
present it to your grasp. Lay hold on it while 
you can, and let not go. 



THE sinner's danger AND DUTY. 61 



LETTEEXI. 

THE sinner's danger AND DUTY. 

My dear Harriet, — It is of great importance 
tliat we regard and treat God as sincere in his 
provisions and offers of mercy, that we act with 
simple sincerity in the use of the knowledge we 
have. Go to Jesus as a lost sinner, as soon as 
you feel that you are lost. Go to him as a willing 
Saviour, as soon as he offers himself as such. 
You feel that you are a sinner ; that the law of 
God is good, even in its strictness, even in your 
condemnation. You feel it is necessary that law 
should operate through the universe of God, and 
under its operation your condemnation is neces- 
sary and just. You, then, are lost ; you are help- 
less. In this condition you feel that Christ is 
such a Saviour as you need, able and willing. 
Po you feel all this, and are you willing to be 
saved by him ? Then you meet him when you 
have these views and this feeling. You close with 
the terms of salvation here. No particular 
strength of feeling is necessary, if this be the real 
action of your heart. No amount of knowledge 
6 



62 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

is necessary, except that you are a sinner, and 
Christ is an adequate Saviour. No ecstasies of 
joy are necessary; they will come in their pro- 
per time, but you need not be greatly concerned 
about them. Place the matter right between 
yourself and God. Many a redeemed sinner, I 
believe, has gone to heaven from a state of anxiety 
and doubt here, and has opened his eyes with sur- 
prise in glory. Others, I doubt not, have gone to 
a world of despair, from a state of false joy and 
false hope entertained here, surprised to find them- 
selves the enemies of God. 

You feel that you are a sinner, and would re- 
pent and believe if you could. Then do this. 
With the simplicity of a child go to a throne of 
grace, open all your heart to the Saviour, tell him 
all and speak freely. He hears. Tell him you 
are a sinner, and he is such a Saviour as you need 
—that you are in a lost and dying state — that you 
come to him for that deliverance which you can 
find no where else — that you give yourself help- 
less into his arms. Here make a formal surrender 
of yourself to Christ in soul and body, in all 
that you have and are, for time and for eternity, 
without any reserve. He who gave himself a 
ransom for sinners, who has convicted you by his 
Spirit, and taught you your need of him, is pre- 
sent to hear and to fulfil all he has engaged. If 
sincerely done on your part, if done heartily, and 



THE sinner's danger AND DUTY. 63 

with, no reservation, the record is on high, and 
will be read to your acceptance in the judgment 
day. 

One caution let me urge upon you. Think not 
that a state of conviction has any merit in it. 
Beware of the impression that you are doing 
pretty well, because you are concerned for your 
soul. This very state of conviction, if it does not 
terminate in conversion, will add to your guilt. 
It only leads you to see more distinctly the duty 
for the neglect of which you will be condemned. 

Think not that it is necessary you should suffer 
conviction of sin for any particular length of 
time. It is always your duty to repent and be- 
lieve in Christ. The moment you are convicted 
of your sin by the Spirit of God, you see the 
force of obligation by which this duty is urged 
upon you. There is no necessity that its fulfil- 
ment should be delayed one moment. If you 
were thrown overboard, and were sinking in the 
angry waves, you would not feel that any length 
of time were necessary to convince you of your 
real danger, or to prepare you to lay hold on the 
rope thrown out to you. On the contrary, your 
danger would increase with the lapse of every 
moment, your strength would diminish, and your 
prospect of relief would lessen with every suc- 
ceeding wave which beat over you. This is the 
real condition of the sinner. His case is every 



64 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

moment growing worse, while lie continues in 
sin. Eepent, then, now, and believe in Jesus 
Christ. 

Beware, however, of a presumptuous hope, 
seized without an intelligent knowledge of the 
w^ay of salvation. The plan is a simple one, as I 
have already defined it, and as you have often 
heard it described. When that is distinctly un- 
derstood, proceed directly, and do not wait in ex- 
pectation of an overpowering force of feeling to 
bear you away from the deliberate exercise of 
your reason. You feel that you are a sinner. 
You know that you are a sinner. Then say, in 
the impressive words of the sacred poem : 

I'll go to Jesus, though my sin 

Hath like a mountain rose ; 
I know his courts, I'll enter in, 

Whatever may oppose. 
Prostrate I'll lie before his throne, 

And there my guilt confess, 
I'll tell him I'm a wretch undone, 

Without his sovereign grace. 
Perhaps He will admit my plea, 

Perhaps will hear my prayer ; 
But if I perish I will pray. 

And perish only there. 
I can but perish if I go, 

I am resolved to try, 
For, if I stay away, I know, 

I must for ever die. 

Do not permit yourself to go to Christ with a 



THE sinner's danger AND DUTY. 65 

demand. Think not that because there is no ne- 
cessity that you should suffer conviction any 
length of time, you may of course find satisfaction 
at once. Yoa have been a great sinner. You 
have resisted the invitations of God's word and 
Spirit. You may not be able to come at once 
with every suitable preparation of heart to receive 
the divine blessing. If you fail of it, the fault is 
yours. It lies not in the promise or provision of 
grace, but in your own heart. 

What, then, is the part of duty and of propriety 
in a sinner, seeking the mercy of God ? Plainly, 
to wait on God until he sends deliverance. " If 
you stay away you know you must for ever die." 
" You can but perish if you go." Eesolve then, 
that if you must perish, you will perish at the foot 
of the cross. Did ever a poor sinner perish there ? 
Never. It was there your dear father found mercy 
— not in ecstasies, but in the full and deliberate 
adoption of this very resolution. 

Here, at the feet of Jesus, employ every means 
of knowing and doing your duty. Neglect no ef- 
forts, in the presumptuous expectation that mira- 
cles will be wrought to furnish you. Eead, study, 
pray over your Bible. Avoid everything in com- 
pany, conversation, or amusements, calculated to 
divert your mind from religion. Spend much 
time in private prayer and serious meditation, and 
let nothing separate you from your Saviour, until 
6 * 



66 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

you have an evidence in tlie feelings and temper 
of your mind that you have cordially closed with 
the terms of mercy. Then you will be able to as- 
sociate with the various objects which lie in the 
sphere of your duties in life, having the love and 
peace of God in your heart, and " whether you eat 
or drink, or whatsoever you do, you will be able 
to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Thus 
associated and exercised, with the conviction im- 
pressed on your experience, that " it is God that 
justifieth," you will go on your way rejoicing, 
and with the great apostle, will feel " persuaded 
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi- 
palities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things 
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love 
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 



EVIDENCES OF PEESONAL KELIGION. 67 



LETTER XII. 

EVIDENCES OF PEESONAL EELIGION. 

My deae Maey, — When, in the anxiety and 
fears of a parent's full heart, I commenced, with 
prayer for a divine blessing, this series of letters, 
I hardly ventured to anticipate that I should so 
soon be permitted to address you as a child of 
God. So unexpectedly, I may say, have my ex- 
pectations been fulfilled. The first hour of your 
birth, now fresh and present in my vivid recollec- 
tion, was attended with a parental dedication of 
our child to God, which has ever been associated, 
in my mind, with something more than a general 
hope that the grace of God would, by covenant, 
reach this object of a father's and a mother's 
prayers. There is something attending on obedi- 
ence to the expressed will of God, which brings 
us naturally into the attitude of expectants, and 
is attended, sometimes, I doubt not, by a divine 
impression of coming realities. Amid my fears, 
I seem to expect the conversion of my children 
to God ; while, in the very exercise of this faith, 
I fear, with trembling, lest they may suffer the 



68 DAUGHTfeKS AT SCHOOL. 

precious season of youtli and of life to pass unim- 
proved, or acting amid so many dangers, be de- 
ceived in their hope. I rejoice, my child, and 
give thanks to God for the hope which you ex- 
press. But if you have truly given your heart to 
God, you have only performed the first act in a 
series of duties equally arduous and imperative, 
which reach on to the latest hour of your life, and 
take hold on your entrance to glory. These are 
to be considered and performed in detail as the 
only means of securing present peace, and au en- 
during " hope as an anchor to the soul." 

The first thing, then, to be seriously considered 
by you, is the importance of doing thoroughly the 
great work of repentance. Eeligion is the great 
business of life, the one thing needful. All things 
else may be neglected without fatal loss, but " what 
can a man give in exchange for his soul ?" The 
amazing difference of character among professing 
christians, as well as the fatal mistakes made by 
some, who utterly fail to maintain their hope, have 
their foundation laid in the very outset of their 
efforts in religion. I tremble when I see how 
hastily some young persons are encouraged by 
their religious teachers to entertain a hope, and 
how carelessly and inconsiderately many venture 
on a hope of mercy. Here is the place where 
fatal mistakes are made ; not that mercy flows in 
a stinted stream, but that the fountain is mistaken, 



EVIDENCES OF PEKSONAL EELIGION. 69 

and tlie waters of death are deceptively substituted. 
Beware, be careful, be sure, my child, that you 
apply to the blood of Jesus, and abide under the 
droppings of the cross. " None but Jesus can do 
the dying sinner good." 

One of your present evidences, then, that you 
have exercised saving repentance, is, that you are 
conscious you have found relief under conviction 
of sin in a view and acceptance of Jesus Christ, as 
your Saviour. Your own doings always deepen 
your conviction of guilt on every glimpse you 
take of them. You find hope and peace only as 
you contemplate Jesus Christ " wounded for your 
transgressions, bruised for your iniquities," and 
yourself as "healed by his stripes." You then 
lean entirely on him in your hope of pardon and 
acceptance. This is an important point in chris- 
tian experience, and I would direct your attention 
to it with great urgency and solicitude. It is in- 
deed the turning point in the experience of the 
true christian. The soul that flies to Jesus is safe 
— all others are lost. No matter how much con- 
viction they may have had, or how great a load 
of guilt may have oppressed them, or how terrible 
their fears, or how confident their hopes that suc- 
ceeded, if they have not been led to believe in, 
and receive, and rest entirely on Christ, as their 
substitute, to meet the penalty of the law, and to 
commit their salvation entirely to him, as their 



70 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

Advocate on high, their hopes are all illusory. 
Their experience does not meet and coincide with 
the plan of salvation. It is only at the cross of 
Christ that the sinner can now have ,any adequate 
sense of the guilt of sin, and that only through 
the enlightening and convincing influences of the 
Holy Spirit, the divine Agent, who accompanies 
the cross. Christ must be ever before the sinner's 
mind, and furnish the comparison and contrast by 
which he measures and judges his own character, 
or the guilt of his sin. You must find, then, in 
your views of Christ as a Saviour, and in your 
sense of dependence, and actual reliance on him, 
in your " peace in believing, and your joy in the 
Holy Ghost"- — you must find here your first and 
principal evidence of a saving change of heart. 

Related to this experience, but fatally divergent 
from it, is a high state of excited feeling, often 
entertained under the effect of urgent external 
causes, producing strong but indistinct notions, 
fears deeply wrought, imaginings floating under 
the exciting effect of nervous irritation, and suc- 
ceeded by a change necessary, because nature is 
exhausted. In persons of this class, are found no 
deliberate and intelligent views of sin in its awful 
sinfulness, of personal guilt in the sight of God, 
of Jesus Christ, offered as a propitiation for sin, 
and adapted to the sinner's case, no reaching forth 
to him, and reliance upon him as a Saviour. They 



EVIDENCES OF PERSONAL RELIGION. 71 

have suffered fear, t"he fear of hell ; they have 
trembled under the thought of being the enemies 
of God, because it is a terrible calamity to them- 
selves ; they have been acted on by sympathy, 
perhaps, seeing others also alarmed ; they have 
suffered under their apprehensions, and wept, and 
swooned, and exhausted themselves with watch- 
ings, and high wrought animal excitement. The 
necessary change and quiet, which exhaustion 
produces, has been taken for conversion ; while 
perhaps these very persons can give no " reason 
for the hope that is in them," no proper definition 
of sin, no adequate account of the way in which 
sin is pardoned, and the sinner is accepted. All 
is indefinite, all is cloudy and obscure, all is ex- 
treme in their feelings and professions, and nothing 
is satisfactory. These are usually the most con- 
fident in their professions, and severe in the judg- 
ments they pass on others, dogmatical in the pe- 
culiarities they adopt, and commonly the most 
unstable in their religious duty. 

Another class of exercises, on which a religious 
hope is sometimes taken up, equally dangerous 
and fatal, is in the opposite extreme, where all 
this feeling and excitement are exchanged for a 
cold and philosophic speculation, where religion 
is made a mere mental operation, having its be- 
ginning and end, its foundation, whole experience 
and consummation in the principles of intellectual 



72 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

philosopliy. In their dread of enthusiasm, this 
class of persons will extinguish their feelings, and 
in their zeal to exclude fanaticism, they forbid the 
exercise of zeal in religion. Eeligious experience 
with them is an intellectual exercise. " It plays 
round the head, but comes not near the heart." 
It is circumscribed in its exercise to formalities, 
to the Sabbath, to set phrases of speech, to "pomp 
and circumstance," to particular circles, and is 
never permitted to be introduced to offend the 
" ears polite" of men or women in the profanity 
of their rage, or sensual indulgence of their 
worldly pleasures. Thus dressed in buckram and 
starched and ruffled, religion is excluded from a 
free and social connection with the ordinary inter- 
course of life, and set conspicuously on the shelf, 
like the gilded Bible, and other books of forms, 
to be gazed at, and to show, as a kind of sign and 
seal, that " this family is religious." 



EVIDEN'CES OF PEKSONAL EELIGION. 73 



LETTER XIII. 

EVIDENCES OF PEESONAL KELIGION. 

My DEAR Mary, — Another evidence that you 
are " born again," will be found in the permanent 
character of the change, as exemplified in all the 
views you take of life, in your deliberate choice 
of companions and pleasures, and in all your in- 
tercourse with others. This life has formerly filled 
the field of your vision — has it not ? Its plea- 
sures, honours, possessions, connections, have 
bounded your views, and filled your desires. Now, 
a wider survey has opened. Eternity stretches 
out before you. Its pleasures, honours, posses- 
sions, and connections, occupy your thoughts and 
desires ; while this life, with all that pertains to it, 
has dwindled to a point, and ceases to exert a 
leading influence on the great duties of your eter- 
nal course. 

Your religion, if it be of any reality, will be 
Carried modestly but with firmness into every de- 
partment and duty of life. You will not be in- 
sensible to the danger of making a merit even of 
your duties, nor to the charge of ostentation, often, 
7 



74 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL, 

perhaps, captiously made by a censorious world, 
or by formal and heartless professors of religion. 
But you will be more afraid of provoking God by 
a neglect of duty, than of incurring the censure of 
men by a rigid performance of it. When per- 
formed with a proper spirit, you never need be 
ashamed of the charge of ostentation in the dis- 
charge of duty, and especially, as is sometimes the 
case, where there is no possibility of escaping the 
charge but by omitting the duty itself. 

Sophronia, a young lady of my acquaintance, 
once left the paternal roof at an early age, and 
soon after she had entertained a hope in Christ, to 
finish her education at a boarding school. On her 
arrival at the place of her new residence, you will 
readily conceive she found new and peculiar trials 
in the new companions and duties with which she 
became necessarily connected. It produced a mo- 
mentary struggle of mingled and various emotion. 
With her religion, religious duties, and religious 
character on one hand, and the world, with its va- 
rious and counteracting influences on the other, 
she was brought to a stand ; but she did not allow 
herself to hesitate. On the first morning after her 
arrival, she, with great civility, but firm determi- 
nation, proposed to her room-mates to allow her 
the undisturbed occupancy of the chamber on a 
certain hour in the morning. It was granted. 
The struggle was over. She was a praying young 



EVIDENCES OF PERSONAL EELIGION. 75 

lady. Here she was strengthened, and prepared 
to exert a most happy influence, as well as to feel 
the blessing of communion with God. What an 
influence was exerted by the decision of that hour ! 
At the early age of twenty -two, I saw this young 
lady breathe out her soul in a most happy and 
triumphant death, after a short life of great purity 
and devotion. The greatest blessing, my daughter, 
which can be yours, is to die young, in the posses- 
sion and exercise of a holy, religious faith. 

Now look at the contrast of this picture in the 
story of Florida, related to me as a fact by another. 
It concerns a young lady, whose mind was awa- 
kened during a religious revival at a boarding 
school. She became serious, deeply serious. She 
even, I believe, entertained a hope. Soon she re- 
turned to her home again. There was an assem- 
blage of her former companions for gay amuse- 
ment — for a ball. She was invited — declined, was 
urged, importuned. Conscience spoke, and she 
persisted in her refusal. At length her father, yes 
her own father, advised her to go, and to continue 
her intercourse with her former companions. She 
declined. He urged it — No, she could not go. 
He would have enforced his wishes by authority, 
but that would not do. He employed this expe- 
dient. He promised her the most costly dress 
that could be purchased to deck her person if she 
would consent. The expedient succeeded. The 



76 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

dress was procured — she appeared that night in 
all the superiority and pride which it gave to her 
person. But it was the winding sheet to all her 
religious feelings and hopes. They fled from that 
hour^ — they never returned. Agitated and op- 
pressed, she soon sunk into disease. She was laid 
on her death bed. She called her father — " Father," 
said she, "bring my gay dress." It was brought. 
" Hang it there before me." It was so suspended. 
With her eyes steadily fixed on that trifle, she 
said — " Father, see there the price of my soul "— - 
and she died. 

My daughter, your religious feeling must be 
thorough, all pervading, permanent, decisive, or 
it will be unfitted to sustain you in the conflicts 
and temptations of life — it will leave you to bar- 
renness and spiritual darkness in death. This 
subject, in which I trust your dear sister now feels 
a personal interest as well as yourself, will be re- 
sumed in my next. 



STANDAED OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 77 



LETTEUXIV. 

STANDARD OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

My dear Mary, — To be a christian, an heir 
of heaven, saved from hell — this is a distinction 
infinitely surpassing all others. It is a distinction 
which God alone can bestow, and which has been 
purchased for sinners at an infinite price. Do we 
talk of personal distinction then ? Here is the 
highest which a sinner can possess. Do we 
desire personal favours ? Here is the greatest 
which man can receive. Do we aspire to 
honours? Here is the only true and unfading 
honour. Would we be holy ? Here is holiness. 
Would we be happy ? Here is happiness — for 
"godliness with contentment is great gain" — 
and eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath 
it entered the heart of man to conceive, the 
blessedness that is in reserve for those who love 
God. 

You hope, my child, that you are a christian ! 

Then " all things are yours ; whether Paul, or 

Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or 

death, or things present, or things to come; 

7* 



78 l)AUaHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ 
is God's." You hope that you are a christian. 
Then, you are not your own, " you are bought 
with a price." You hope you are a chris- 
tian. Then this world is not your home — 
your " house is not made with hands ; it is eternal 
in the heavens." You hope you are a chris- 
tian. Then those who do the will of your 
Father in heaven, they are your mother, and sis- 
ter, and brother. Be a decided christian. Be a 
whole christian. Be a christian, " not in word 
only, but in deed and in truth." You are not 
poor — you are rich, rich in Christ and his love, 
while you abide in him. You are honoured in 
his favour, holy in his righteousness to present 
you faultless before the throne of the Father, and 
by his grace to preserve you from temptation 
here; you are happy in the communion of his 
Spirit, and in the hope of glory. Be a christian 
indeed^ — devoted to Him who has " purchased you 
with his own blood ;" having " your conversation 
and your heart in heaven," where your home and 
your treasure are ; cherishing towards other chris- 
tians the nearest relation, and the deepest love. I 
shall never lose a daughter, nor a daughter's love, 
because she loves me, first as a christian, and then 
as a parent. You will not be lost to the world when 
you live above it. You will not be lost to your- 
self, when you feel that you are " not your own." 



STANDAED OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 79 

You will lose nothing, wlien you give up all for 
Christ. You will have " great gain." You se- 
cure " the life that now is, and that which is to 
come." 

My daughter, I desire to see you wholly de* 
voted to Christ in heart and in life. Your parents 
gave you back to God in solemn and formal dedi- 
cation when they received you from his hand. 
At a subsequent period, this dedication was re- 
newed, and sealed with baptismal water, " the 
sign of the righteousness of faith." Your parents 
have ever held you as a sacred deposit, committed 
to our care and education here. We never held 
you as our own. On more than one solemn occa- 
sion, God intimated to us that your life was in 
his hands, and he would resume it — and we have 
assented. One prevailing desire ever predomina- 
ted, and swelled our bosoms — that you might be 
his in this life, and be taken to himself in his own 
time and manner. And now that you have dedi- 
cated yourself to him, I desire that you should be 
an entire christian, and " serve the Lord wholly." 
Although you are endeared to me by the absence 
of your sainted mother, and doubly endeared by 
your voluntary surrender of your heart to God, I 
wish to call you mine in no sense, and would ex- 
ert an influence on you in no way, which would 
divide your affections or embarrass your religious 
duty. I think I would not withhold you from 



8D DAUGHTEBS AT SCHOOL. 

the society of your dear mother, now in "hea- 
ven, nor from any service to which He who has 
called you may appoint on earth. My only 
desire and anxiety is that you may be a devoted 
christian. 



AIM AT HIGH ATTAINMENTS IN RELIGION. 81 



LETTER XV. 

AIM AT HIGH ATTAINMENTS IN RELIGION. 

My dear Mary, — The standard of your cTiris- 
tian character will be decided at an early period 
in your christian course. We do not often rise 
above the grade to which we first aspire. Hence, 
the importance that you should, in the outset, have 
your mind fully possessed with the ardent desire 
to become an eminent christian. Next to the 
danger of self-deception, this is a subject of lead- 
ing importance. Next to the "new birth," in 
order, is the formation of christian character. 
Our usefulness, our religious influence, and per- 
sonal happiness, depend, first on the reality of 
our personal piety, and then on the maturity and 
perfection of that principle implanted by grace 
in the heart. God makes us, in christian char- 
acter, what we desire to be made. He withholds 
from us no good thing. 

Connected, then, with the very commencement 
of your christian course, I advise to a formal dedi- 
cation of yourself, in soul and in body, in mind 
and strength, in all you have and are for time and 



82 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

eternity, to Grod. I advise you to make this dedi- 
cation formal, to aid you in making it real. 
When you have duly, and without delay, consid- 
ered the matter and prepared your heart for it, 
write down a form expressive of what you feel 
and desire, and determine, in the strength of the 
Lord, to do and to be. Let this instrument be 
signed by yourself, and placed under a succinct 
and clear account, carefully and conscientiously 
written, of your christian experience. Let this 
be done in the freshness of your early feelings, 
that in all your subsequent life you may recur to 
it, and see how you felt, and what you promised, 
when you entered into covenant with God. These 
two important records, the first headed : " My 
christian experience," and the second : " My self- 
dedication," may well stand at the head of your 
journal, or diary, which I hope you will keep for 
the remainder of your life. For an outline of the 
plan for the first record, I refer you to the mem- 
oirs of Mrs. Harriet Newell, in which she gives 
an account of her experience. For a general 
plan or form of self-dedication, I refer you to 
Doddridge's Kise and Progress. 

I will now attempt to enforce this advice, by 
a brief sketch of the advantages of the plan pro- 
posed, and the objection which is sometimes urged 
against it. 

In every or terprise, and on every subject, it 



AIM AT HIGH ATTAINMENTS IN RELIGION. 83 

is important that we refer often to the point from 
which we started, and recur to first principles. 
Otherwise we are constantly liable to lose sight 
of the end at which we aim, and wander from our 
way. Our christian experience and our self-dedi- 
cation associate us at once with the soul-inspiring 
scenes and transactions, which attended our first 
love. We go back to the childhood of our chris- 
tian life, and revive all the associations with which 
it has been connected. The field, the tree, the 
book, the church, the garden, the chamber, the 
closet — there they stand before us, distinctly as- 
sociated with the solemn scenes and impressive 
facts they witnessed. So this little manuscript 
spreads out before us in after life, and perhaps in 
distant lands, the mementoes of sacred and solemn 
parts of our history, which might otherwise have 
been forgotten. It is the sworn witness of our 
convictions, our confession, our solemn covenant 
with God*; and like a familiar friend, it refreshes 
and quickens our memory by recounting the 
events and transactions in which we have been a 
party. These vivid feelings we need to cherish. 
They reprove our wanderings, and call us back 
to duty. 

The practice of writing down our feelings and 
experience, from day to day, will aid us also in 
the important work of self-examination. When- 
ever we are about to define and record our feel- 



84 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

ings, we are brouglit to a careful examination of 
them. A loose and general expression will not 
be satisfactory. We record the present state of 
our minds. There it is — we read it, and see what 
we are. 

The only objection which I have known to be 
urged against this practice, is, that we are apt to 
record stronger feelings than we have, and thereby 
deceive ourselves. This was my own conviction 
on the repeated examination of my journal, com- 
menced when I entered on the christian life, and 
prosecuted for many years ; and this impression 
under a peculiar state of feeling led me to throw 
the whole into the fire. I have been ever since 
convinced that I was wrong in this opinion, and 
have regretted the act to which it urged me. If 
I sometimes expressed my feelings too strongly, 
I have no doubt they were as often made against 
my religious character as for it, therefore not cal- 
culated to cherish a spiritual pride. I suppose 
the journal of your dear mother shared a similar 
fate, for I have often heard her express similar 
sentiments. She kept a journal, I know, for most 
of her life, but I have been unable to find it among 
her papers. I, therefore, earnestly advise you to 
jkeep your journal, and if you think at any time 
that any part of the past record is incorrect, make 
that opinion a part of your record at the time, 
and let the variant feelings of different days, 



AIM AT HIGH ATTAINMENTS IN EELIGION. 85 

months, or years, stand together. I can assure 
you their re-perusal will be instructive and pro- 
fitable. 

What do you now think a christian ought to 
be ? That, no doubt, you now think you will at- 
tempt to be. The early record of these convic- 
tions, while they are fresh and vivid in the mind, 
will enable you hereafter to look at your standard 
when you may need a monitor. You have given 
yourself away to Christ. If your life is spared, 
you will not be exempted from the temptations 
inseparable from life. You will be compelled, in 
a course of christian duty, to meet with severe 
conflicts. You may be tempted to take back a 
part of what you now pledge and give to Him, 
who " has given himself for you." Your solemn 
covenant, then reviewed and renewed, may serve 
to strengthen and save you from dangerous or fa- 
tal compliances. Let the dedication of yourself 
to God, therefore, be deliberate, entire, formal, and 
often renewed. 

You cannot serve God and mammon. Set it 
down as a truth always to be felt, that you must 
be entirely devoted in all the affections of your 
heart to the service of God, or your professions 
are a solemn mockery. There is no slavish ser- 
vice more oppressive than that which renders a 
sacrifice to the forms of religion where the spirit 
of devotion is wanting. If you would be person- 



86 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

ally happy, you must not attempt to quiet your 
conscience by a solemn form of religion, which 
leaves the heart entirely out of the service ; 

" For God abhors the sacrifice, ^ 
Where not the heart is found." 

Your own personal happiness and usefulness 
depend much on the entireness of the present sur 
render you make of yourself, and the undivided 
service you devote to the cause of your Ee- 
deemer. You cannot be happy in a constrained 
service, and it will be constrained unless the full 
consent of the heart gives direction to it. You 
cannot be useful where the principal energies of 
the soul are opposed to objects you professedly 
pursue. Eeligion itself, in its general character 
and influence, will suffer through your example. 
You will have lived in vain, and, dying unfurnished 
for the world to come, will be disappointed of that 
reward in another life which is promised only to 
those who " live, godly in Christ Jesus." 

On the other hand, how calm and full of con- 
solation is a consistent christian ! How dignified 
and full of salutary influence is his life! He is 
honoured by those who find no communion with 
him. There is something like sublimity in his 
course. He respects himself, and is respected by 
others. He honours God and is promoted to ho- 
nour. Be careful, then, to deal honestly with 



AIM AT HIGH ATTAK^klENTS IN" BELIGION. 87 

yourself when you renounce the world as your 
portion, and venture on the christian's hope. Let 
sincerity and an entire devotedness pervade every 
action. In fine, be a christian, — this is all. If 
you are such, you will not fail to be every thing 
else that will be essential to your true interest. 
Without this character you must be miserable, 
possess what else you may. 



88 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTERXVI. 

EMINENT PIETY. 

My dear Mary, — To be a christiaa is the 
highest distinction and privilege that can be con- 
ferred on a mortal. But this term itself is ren- 
dered somewhat generic bj its application to the 
various classes of christians of whom we are ac- 
customed to speak. Some are satisfied with the 
distinctive appellation of a Christian, as expres- 
sive of a religious system, in opposition to a Ma- 
hommedan, a Brahmin, &c. Some are very tena- 
cious of a sectarian name among the many 
denominations, who embrace the christian religion. 
But leaving these distinctions, I mean by a chris- 
tian a true disciple of Christ the Saviour of sin- 
ners, the only distinction in religious character 
which will be of any final benefit to us. I wish 
you, my daughter, to be such a christian, a real 
christian. In this class I desire, also, that you 
may not be satisfied with being barely a christian, 
with just piety enough to save you ; not a sloth- 
ful, cold, inefficient, joyless christian, but an emi- 
nent christian. 



EMINENT PIETY. 89 

If you are truly a christian, you will feel it is 
not only desirable that you should be saved, but 
that others also should be saved. You will not 
be satisfied without doing something to effect this 
desirable object ; for what we greatly desire, we 
seek by our personal efforts to promote. To this 
end you will seek to be an eminent christian — 
not eminent by a great name, but eminent by the 
possession and exercise of great grace, by the 
production of great good to the world. It is not 
necessary to the true blessedness of this distinc- 
tion that you should be extensively known, but 
only that you should have in your own soul a 
living principle of religion deeply implanted, and 
glowing — that you should be laborious, active, 
and efficient in imitation of our divine Redeemer, 
who went about doing good, that you may there- 
by contribute to promote the great end of his suf- 
ferings and death, viz : " to bring many sons unto 
glory." 

You may pass through life without disgrace in 
a mere profession of religion ; but do you trem- 
ble at the thought of the dangers to which you 
are exposed ? Do you desire to be distinguished 
among the number of those who shine as lights 
in the world, and are useful to their fellow men ? 
Do you seek for a near communion with the Sa- 
viour, for bright proof of your adoption, for the 
anchor hope in trials and storms, for the quiet 
8* 



90 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

approbation of a good conscience and approving 
brethren in Christ, or for a martyr's crown if per- 
secutions must make a trial of your faith ? Then 
you must be an eminent christian. Not for one 
possible event of life, but for every event you 
will need the aid, support, or protection of emi- 
nent piety. 

For that character which is so necessary to your 
safety and happiness, the gospel provides. Yes, 
the gospel requires eminent piety, even perfection. 
Perfection is the consummation of the christian 
character, which is accomplished when he is ad- 
mitted to that state for which this character fits 
him. Here, however, the christian character is 
progressive, and in this change from one degree 
of grace to another, we find the excitement so well 
fitted and necessary to our present state. The 
standard of christian character, constantly pre- 
sented as the object of our effort, is perfection, 
and He that hath begun a good work in us will 
carry it on to perfection. Wherever, then, we 
may place the absolute completion of the work 
of grace, eminent piety is an attainment which 
belongs to time, and may be predicated of any 
period in the christian's life. The attainment of 
it does not require that we should be absolutely 
sinless, which we, by our own consciousness, 
know we are not. 

That which is required by the Bible, is also ren- 



EMINENT PIETY. 91 

dered necessary by the circumstances in wliicli 
we are placed. We are surrounded by tempta- 
tions — Oh, how numerous, insidious, and strong ! 
The aged saint, as he stands on the verge of eter- 
nity, and sees the young and inexperienced come 
forward to enter on the christian life, amid his 
joys betrays emotions of apprehension and anx- 
iety. Why? He reflects on the dangers which 
throng the path he has trod, and which is to be 
travelled by the inexperienced feet of these now 
weak and perhaps too self-confident disciples. 
He reflects that many of those who commenced 
with him, have made shipwreck of their faith, 
have been left far behind, have faltered and per- 
haps tired, and "have walked the ways of God 
no more." He recurs to his own discouragements 
and misgivings, and wonders that he has perse- 
vered, wonders that any persevere to the end. I 
well recollect that at a critical period of my 
christian life, full of hope, expectation, and joy, 
I saw nothing before me but brightness and 
glory, such an aged saint, deeply interested in my 
welfare, appeared thus pensive and sad, when the 
peculiar ceremonies of the time called, as I 
thought, for cheerfulness and congratulation. In 
the varied experience of my subsequent life, I 
have frequently recurred to that hour, and had 
vividly presented to my mind that pensive and 
expressive countenance, which seemed to say, when 



92 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

I saw no cTiange, " Take care, young man, your 
history is not yet written — who knows whether 
you will die a wise man or a fool ?" I shall never 
forget that look. I cannot lose sight of that 
countenance. It seemed to doubt me.' It beamed 
upon me like the third question applied to Peter 
by his Master, " Lovest thou me ?" It grieved me. 
My daughter, you are beginning life amid tempta- 
tions. I know not — you know not, to what yoa 
may be exposed. Oh, the yearning of a father's 
heart asks for you this protection of character, 
that you may be eminently pious ! 

To regulate the mind and direct its energies to 
profitable effort, you will need a vigorous pulsa- 
tion and healthful moral action in the heart. 
Eminent piety alone will answer the great demands 
of your circumstances in life. This alone will 
prepare you for the service to which you are 
called. To live in this age of the church, too, 
and in a protestant country, is a privilege, but a 
privilege which demands of you a service that 
can be discharged by no powers you have or can 
bring to your aid, without eminent personal piety. 
The age in which we live demands of individual 
christians peculiar labours and efforts, for which 
high religious character is required. The mis- 
sionary cause is to be sustained by personal la- 
bours and sacrifices ; and the various benevolent 
operations to which the church is pledged need 



EMINENT PIETY. 93 

eminent qualifications in christians to sustain 
them. Without this eminent piety to meet a pecu- 
liar demand, the light which has already streaked 
the horizon, and been hailed as the millennial 
dawn, will retreat, and leave the world again to 
moral darkness and disappointment. 

But without regard to the great objects of pub- 
lic benevolence, in which the church is engaged, 
and on which every individual christian exerts a 
share of influence, nothing but eminent piety will 
prepare you for the faithful, efficient, and profit- 
able discharge of domestic duties which will 
devolve upon you. You are a daughter, a sister, 
a pupil — in all these relations, and as a member 
of the school and family, you have responsibili- 
ties and duties, which nothing can prepare you to 
meet in the best manner but a spirit of piety that 
shall be all-pervading. Your own personal hap- 
piness, and the happiness of those with whom you 
daily associate, will be intimately involved in the 
spirit you habitually cherish, and the manner in 
which these duties are performed. I shall, at 
another time, remark on these several classes of 
domestic duties ; at present I only allude to them 
to say, what an awakened attention to the history 
of families and persons within your knowledge 
will at once impress on your conviction, that no- 
thing but eminent piety can prepare you for the 
duties and responsibilities of your domestic rela- 



94 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

tions. I need not tell you how intimately the 
happiness of your surviving parent rests on his 
children ; how much you can do to help or inter- 
rupt the peace and harmony of our little family, 
by your intercourse with your sister and brother; 
how sensibly you may affect the comfort of your 
teachers ; how important is the example of one 
young lady at school on all her schoolmates ; or 
how powerful is the reflex influence on her own 
peace, happiness, and character, constantly exerted 
by all she does. Nothing but ardent piety can 
prepare you to meet the present duties which de- 
volve upon you, leaving out of the account those 
which will be added as you advance in years, and 
the circle of your relations enlarges. 

To be useful in the world, you must aim at and 
make high attainments in piety. Few, except 
those of this character, have proved to be a bless- 
ing to the church. Many of those who profess 
religion, are a mere incumbrance to that sacred 
cause, which every one should seek to recommend 
to others, by a holy walk. The humblest chris- 
tian may exert a strong influence. Piety is effi- 
cient. You may exert this influence. Every 
christian may do this. It is his duty, and ex- 
erted, it is efficient on all who take knowledge of 
him. None live alone. " No one," therefore, as 
the apostle says, "liveth to himself." We may 
exert our influence on one. If that one is saved 



EMINENT PIETY. 95 

by our instrumentality, we do vastly more than 
the great, the rich, or the learned man, who hides 
his light, or dishonours his profession ; for he 
thereby prejudices that cause he is bound to de- 
fend and help. 

We cannot enter heaven without eminent pi- 
ety. Our souls must be absorbed in the subject 
of religion. Jesus must be the enrapturing ob- 
ject of our vision, and of our thoughts — the love 
of God must fill our hearts, and a growing bene- 
volence towards all men must control the energies 
of our whole nature, or we cannot enter heaven. 
Are we willing to live with a bare hope, to save 
us from despair, and put off all this glorious work 
of sanctification, which is the appropriate work 
of time, to the very last moment of life when we 
are to be glorified ? Oh let " the love of Christ 
constrain us, because we thus judge, that if Christ 
died for all, then were all dead : and that he died 
for all, that those who live should not henceforth 
live unto themselves, but unto him who died for 
them and rose again." " Grow in grace and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." " If ye be risen with Christ, seek those 
things which are above, where Christ sitteth at 
the right hand of God." 



96 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTERXVII. 

THE INFLUENCE OP SETTLED PKINCIPLES. 

My deak Childeen, — ISTot withstanding the 
confidence I feel in your judgment, filial affection, 
good resolutions, and even stronger defences to a 
virtuous, if not a religious life, the solicitude of a 
parent's heart is awakened by what he knows of 
the dangers and temptations of life, yet to be en- 
countered by your inexperienced feet. I cannot 
be always with you. Exigencies will inevitably 
occur in life, where you must be called to inde- 
pendent, personal decisions, perhaps pressed sud- 
denly upon you, and calling for immediate action 
in the presence of temptation, plausible and invi- 
ting, but fatal to the taste and to the touch. Ah, 
these are the turning points in life, which often 
give the most important direction to the whole 
future course. Many have gone successfully 
through, simply because they have never encoun- 
tered them. Others have been led in the right 
way, because judicious and pious friends have 
borne them along. None have been always wise 
by intuition, or by inherent power. 



THE INFLUENCE OF SETTLED PRINCIPLES. 97 

Could I give you a moral map of life, and define 
to jou the points where danger lies concealed, 
where your decision, and resolution, and special 
efforts will be called in requisition, you might be 
more safe. But the greatest dangers are the most 
insidious. The tempter is always plausible. "It 
is not to vice, surrounded with her appropriate 
symbols of cruelty, impurity, and misery ; asso- 
ciated with the grossest absurdities, dissevered 
from all the plausibilities and proprieties with 
which refinement and gayety have crowned her 
head and shrouded her deformities, that we are in 
danger of doing homage. But it is to vice, when 
' clad in decencies ;' to vice ' when elegantly 
dressed and well perfumed;' to vice, when she 
occupies the border country between right and 
wrong ; to vice, when she presents herself with 
all the form and lineaments of virtue, but bears 
about with her all the heart, and spirit, and life- 
giving principle of corruption, that we are temp- 
ted to bow the knee, and pay the tribute due only 
to her whose complexion she borrows, and whose 
throne she usurps." 

" The grace of God," by which true christians 
are "kept through faith unto salvation," is not 
exerted against the consent of the will, nor inde- 
pendent of the moral agency of the sinner con- 
stantly employed in the use of means, by which 
that grace is procured, This life is q< " warfare" 
9 



98 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

- — we are co-workers witH God — and are exhorted 
to "give all diligence to make our calling and 
election sure." We are to be assiduously en- 
gaged, then, in self-discipline, education, and de- 
fence. The work is ours, and our attainments 
and triumphs are proportioned to our diligence, 
activity, and perseverance. Your attention will 
be necessary, first to principles, and then to habits 
formed on the application of those principles. 
You cannot be pious and good in the gross or ag- 
gregate, without attention to duties in detail. 
Your principles must be applied. In this way 
you become familiar with them, and they are 
proved when thus drawn out into practice. I will 
endeavour to show you what I mean. Your prin- 
ciple will not allow you to violate the truth. I 
will suppose you have repeatedly looked at this 
in the abstract, but no distinct opportunity has 
occurred for the practical application of it. At 
length such an occasion arrives. You are temp- 
ted to falsehood. Advantages are offered — flat- 
tering rewards are held out to you. Perhaps a 
falsehood may hide a fault, prevent a merited re- 
buke, may gain a friend. Can you tell a lie ? 
No, you cannot. You are principled against it. 
There is no hesitation — no balancing of argu- 
ments. You say at once — " I cannot do this thing, 
and sin against God." The same may be said in 
regard to taking what is not your own, profane- 



THE INFLUENCE OF SETTLED PRINCIPLES. 99 

ness, Sabbath-breaking, or any otber sin enumer- 
ated in the decalogue. You have settled it deeply 
in principle, in deliberate view of all the conse- 
quences of sin, in the self-reproach which attends 
it, the shame to which it exposes, and the wrath 
of God that certainly follows, that you cannot 
** consent to sin." When the temptation occurs^ 
the principle is applied, and character is proved. 

You see, then, what principle is. It is an af- 
fection of the soul, settled, of uniform action, and 
Unyielding integrity. It often triumphs over 
vice, presented to beguile us with all its blandish- 
ments, and force of appeal to the passions, and 
present gratification. We know, therefore, how 
it will operate, and to what results it will lead. 
When these principles have been applied so as to 
have formed a character, it is pronounced with 
certainty that that person will act in a certain 
way on a given subject, because his principles 
are known. It is known he will tell the truth, and 
therefore we rely on what he says. We know he 
will scrupulously respect the rights of property, 
and therefore we trust him. We know he will 
regard the holy Sabbath, will honour his parents, 
&c. As he is trusted and confided in for his in- 
tegrity, he will be saved from many temptations : 
for wicked men will not dare to approach him 
with their solicitations. Once severely rebuked, 
vice retires, or repeats its solicitations with greater 



100 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL, 

hesitancy ; while it approaches with a bolder front 
and greater confidence, where it has once been 
listened to, or entertained. 

The importance, then, of defining and settling 
onr principles of action may be easily seen. It 
both gives us a confidence in ourselves, and gains 
to us the confidence of others. This is no less 
true in morals than in science, or any oth^r de- 
partment of practical life, I will illustrate by an 
example. In a recent examination which I at- 
tended at your school, a young lady was called 
upon to solve a difiicult question in Algebra. 
She went to the black board with a modest con- 
fidence, stated the question, and the principles on 
which the demonstration was founded, and after 
an abstruse process, she came out with the wrong 
answer. She, without embarrassment, blotted out 
the whole, and proceeded on the same principles 
with a similar process, but with the same result. 
She then reviewed the work as it stood, and not 
detecting the error, became a little confused — not 
because she doubted her principles, or herself, but 
perhaps at the thought of the public exhibition 
of herself to strangers. Her teacher then said, 
" I have confidence in Miss K., that she will ac- 
complish the work. Her premises are correct, and 
I have never known her fail to accomplish what- 
ever she has undertaken in the application of 
them." The young lady again rallied her confi- 



THE INFLUENCE OF SETTLED PRINCIPLES. 101 

dence, and by a glance of tlie eye discovered in 
the work tliat she had, perhaps, placed plus in- 
stead of minusj which she hastily corrected and 
arrived at the true answer. 

Our principles being right, and persevered in, 
will sustain us in the result ; well settled and de- 
fined, they will inspire us with confidence, and 
excite us to perseverance. Correct principles, 
faithfully practised, will lead to a successful issue. 
They may embroil us in difficulties, and the de- 
monstration may come through an abstruse pro- 
cess ; but it will come. Sometimes a falsehood 
may save us from great difficulties, in which the 
truth will involve us ; but it will never bring out 
the right answer. In the final proof we shall be 
put to confusion. So in every thing — in morals 
• — " the light of the wicked shall be put out, and 
the spark of his fire shall not shine," — but " the 

righteousness of the upright shall deliver him." 
9 * 



102 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XVIII. 

PRINCIPLES APPLIED. 

My dear Childreis-, — No difficulties in wticli 
our principles may involve us, should ever induce 
the least relinquishment of them. Principles can 
never be compromised — this makes a man of 
integrity. But some, by their practice, say opinion 
must never be modified by circumstances, nor 
submit to facts — this makes an obstinate man. 
The former is the terror of his enemies, the lattei? 
a burden to his friends. Difficulties sometimes 
are inseparable from the duty itself — sometimes it 
is the result of our own mistakes, and easily cor- 
rected by a carefal review. In either case the 
only remedy is a strict adherence to the principle 
in a persevering application of it to the end. It 
is wise sometimes to yield a point, but always fatal 
to abandon a principle. To distinguish the cases 
accurately in the varied intercourse of life, often 
constitutes the difference between the man of popu- 
lar and the man of repulsive manners, and gains 
to the one an access and influence among men, 
from which the other, with the best and purest 



PRINCIPLES APPLIED. 103 

motives of action, perhaps, is effectually debarred. 
We should always seek to present the most im- 
portant principles to the acceptance of others, 
recommended by the least repulsive and most 
attractive forms. It is not necessary, for instance, 
that my neighbour should stand, or sit, or kneel 
in prayer, but it is absolutely necessary he should 
pray ; and I will yield to his prejudices, his igno- 
rance, or his caprice, in sitting, or standing, or 
kneeling, if he will consent to pray. So, if I can 
persuade him to receive and obey the gospel, I 
will not contend with him about forms and cere- 
monies — he may be an Episcopalian, Presbyterian,; 
Baptist, or Methodist. 

The manner in which principle should be sus- 
tained is illustrated in an anecdote of Latimer, a 
distinguished minister of the gospel, in the reign 
of the Eighth Henry of England. When called to 
preach before the tyrant, his royal master, he 
assailed, and pointedly reproved those sins by 
which that monarch was disgraced. Stung by 
the reproof, the sovereign appointed him to preach 
on the next Sabbath, in the royal presence, and 
required him to retract publicly what he had said. 
Latimer, accordingly, ascended the pulpit, amid 
the gaze of the royal retinue, and surrounded by 
the splendors of the greatest court in Europe. 
The good man is said to have commenced with 
this soliloquy; — "Now, Hugh Latimer, bethink 



104 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

thee, thou art in the presence of thy earthly mon- 
arch ; thy life is in his hands, and if thou dost 
not suit thyself to his fancies, he will bring down 
thy gray hairs with blood to the grave. But 
Hugh Latimer, bethink thee, thou art in the pre- 
sence of the King of kings and Lord of lords, 
who hath told thee, ' Fear not them that kill the 
body, and after that have no more that thejr can 
do ; but fear him who, after he hath killed, hath 
power to cast into hell I' Yea, I say, Hugh Lati- 
mer, fear Him." He then repeated all he had said 
on the preceding Sabbath, and enforced it with 
additional and personal appeals. The angry 
monarch sent for the faithful minister, and ex- 
claimed, "How durst thou insult thy monarch 
so ?" Latimer replied, " I thought if I were un- 
faithful to my God, it would be impossible to be 
loyal to my king." The king, self-convicted, em- 
braced the man of principle, and replied, " Is 
there yet one man left who is bold and honest 
enough to tell me the truth ?" 

The manner in which adherence to principle 
will sustain a man, may be illustrated in the his- 
tory of Luther, the Reformer. Cited by the eccle- 
siastical tyrant who then filled the Papal throne, 
to appear and answer for his alleged heresies, he 
boldly replied to his friends, who feared for his 
safety, " I am called by the providence of God, 
and I will go and answer for his truth, though I 



PRINCIPLES APPLIED. 105 

sTiould be opposed by as many devils in tbe way as 
there are tiles on tbe buildings." With such a 
spirit he conducted, and was a principal instrument 
in effecting the Keformation. 

The subject may find a still more impressive il- 
lustration in the example of the three children, 
who refused to bend the knee, and pay their ho- 
mage to the image, which Nebuchadnezzar, the 
king, had set up. They were, by order of the 
king, cast into the burning fiery furnace ; but one, 
like unto the Son of God, was seen to walk with 
them in the midst of the fire, and he led them 
forth, and not a hair of their head was burnt. 
And this is in accordance with the promise of 
God to his people," When thou passest through 
the waters I will be with thee; and through the 
rivers, they shall not overflow thee : When thou 
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." 



106 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XIX. 

FOKMATION OF HABITS. 

My deae Childeen, — ^Your self-control, as well 
as entire character, will depend on the early form- 
ation of right habits. Principle lies at the foun- 
dation of all character. The fundamental and 
pervading principle of religion, is love to God. 
It secures a respect for, and obedience to, all his 
commands ; and carried out in the practical duties 
of life, it forms our habits. 

Influenced by love to God, I will suppose as an 
example, we adopt the rule expressed in the ninth 
commandment. With this principle and rule of 
life, we enter on our trial. We are called to tes- 
tify, and, in the application of our rule, we tell 
the truth — but this act is not a habit. We are 
then called repeatedly to speak, and, under temp- 
tations of various kinds and degrees, to swerve 
from the truth — we adhere to our principle. 
Here a habit is formed. A habit is the succession 
of like actions, or a uniform action on any one 
subject. Habit, then, is the action of principle, 
and is the development of it to the observation 



FOEMATION OF HABITS. 107 

of others. It also strengthens and defends our 
principles, as it gives us confidence in ourselves, 
and a triumph over temptations. Hence the im- 
portance of forming right habits. 

There is one respect in which the formation of 
right habits is important, in proportion as they do 
not involve important principles. Our characters, 
and usefulness, and happiness, are often deeply 
affected and injured by some trifling habit, which 
has been permitted to become immovably fixed, 
because it was originally supposed to violate no 
moral obligation. A gentleman may chew tobac- 
co, or a lady may take snuff, until the habit may 
become deeply, injurious to character, usefulness, 
and happiness, and withal unconquerable. A 
young lady may become careless in her wardrobe, 
or fantastical and vain in her dress, until her cha- 
racter, usefulness, and happiness, all become in-- 
volved and ru^ined in one bad habit. A little girl 
may be petulant, complaining, and unaccommoda- 
ting towards her sister or brother, until mutual 
alienation and distrust prove to her, too late, how 
ruinous one bad habit may prove to be, when per- 
severed in. And yet, perhaps, the persons whose 
character, usefulness, and happiness have been 
thus self-destroyed, could not be tempted to the 
commission of a bold sin nakedly exposed. 

My present object, however, is not so much to 
pursue this train of remark, as to give a direction 



108 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

to your habits on some of tlie most important re- 
ligious duties, on which I feel an ardent desire 
that you should, at the present time, adopt correct 
views, and pursue a decided course of habitual 
action. 

The first habit which you should seek to form, 
is that of a punctual attention to daily religious 
duties. You have been early taught the prayers 
appropriate to a state of childhood, and have no 
doubt preserved a habit of repeating them. But 
your present years and greater maturity of under- 
standing demand something more, to which I 
trust you are urged by your own convictions and 
sense of duty. In the right formation of this ha- 
bit, and perseverance in it, the christian finds his 
vigorous growth and lively religious feeling to 
be deeply involved, while it will also aid the se- 
rious mind in his inquiries after truth in every 
stage of his anxious efforts. 

The particular points of religious duty to which 
I wish now to direct your attention, as calling for 
a place in your daily exercises, are reading the 
scriptures, private meditation, self-examination, 
and prayer. 

Eeading the scriptures as a daily duty and pri- 
vilege is necessary, if we would act with caution 
and wisdom in the most important and momen- 
tous concerns. Suppose you were travelling in 
the night through an unknown and dangerous 



FOEMATION OF HABITS. 109 

road — you would seek a guide to direct you, or a 
light to discover tlie way. Or if you should call 
at a great inn to sojourn for a night, where every 
sort of lodgers were assembled, you would not 
undertake, even for once, to find your chamber, 
where you might pray and lie down to rest, with- 
out a lamp or guide to direct your inexperienced 
step, amid various stair-ways, and a multitude of 
apartments, occupied by strangers of every vari- 
ety of character. Such a lamp to our feet, and 
such a guide to our paths, is the holy Bible. In 
this world, where we have no continuing city, 
through which we pass as pilgrims, and over 
which moral and mental darkness prevails, we 
can find no adequate light to direct us but in the 
scriptures. We cannot proceed on our journey 
for a single day with safety, destitute of our 
guide. Diverging paths on the right hand and on 
the left, all marked by fresh footsteps, or crowded 
with travellers,, constantly distract our attention, 
and shake our confidence. We need a guide who 
is worthy of all trust, and to whom we may di- 
rect the question, " Which way shall we go?" All 
cannot be right, and yet each invites our com- 
pany. We need a lamp, lest, when night comes 
on, we miss our path, and become irretrieva- 
bly lost. That only light, that only guide, is the 
Bible. 

Our only rule of faith and guide in practice, is 
10 



110 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

the Holy Spirit, speaking to us in the scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments. You can con- 
fide in no other book — you must not trust the 
best man on earth. If an angel of light should 
profess to teach you contrary to the word of God, 
you must not listen — you must pronounce him a 
liar. Such an experiment was fatally tried on the 
mother of all our race. The tempter " said' unto 
her, Thou shalt not surely die." And the fallen 
angel, who thus deceived our mother, is still em- 
ployed in the same malignant purpose. He has 
agents seeking, under every imposing and deceitful 
form, to discredit the word of God. Eepel him, 
I entreat you, in every form, whether he comes in 
the imposing character of God's priest, to take 
away from you your Bible and substitute his 
living instructions, the interpretation of the 
church ; or in the vision of new revelations, su- 
perseding the written word. I say to you, my 
children, hold on to your Bible. Bring every 
teacher " to the law and to the testimony," if they 
speak not according to this word, it is because 
there is no light in them. " Believe not every 
spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, 
because many false prophets are gone out into the 
world." 

The evidences which assure us that the Bible 
is the word of God are taught in your classes. 
To these you have already given some attention, 



FORMATION OF HABITS. Ill 

and will give still more. The object of these in- 
structions is to assure you that God has indeed 
spoken to us in his holy word of the Old and 
New Testaments. We must hear God speak-— 
and that is the end of controversy. Here he 
speaks in the Bible, which is always the same. 
"When you have once admitted the evidences of 
this, " here is the judge that ends the strife." Who- 
ever speaks, then, open your Bible. A child may 
read that. A child may understand that. Try 
the man or angel that would teach you, by that 
Bible. Is he a priest ? The fallen spirit, who can 
assume the appearance of an angel of light, may 
also make use of a wicked priest to deceive you. 
And what fitter instrument of deception could he 
find than a priest, the professed " legate of the 
skies ?" And where would a wicked man, insti- 
gated by the devil, sooner go than into the priest- 
hood, especially if that priesthood should be so 
organized as to gratify a worldly ambition ? I 
would encourage you to cherish and respect a holy 
ministry, devoted to their holy work. God for- 
bid that I should weaken, in the hearts of my 
daughters, a respect for this means of God's ap- 
pointment to bring sinners to repentance, and to 
edify the church. But the worst men in the 
world have appeared as the professed ministers 
of our holy religion ; and we are divinely taught, 
that he who is emphatically called " the man of 



112 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

sin," sball come under cover of this very profes- 
sion — who " shall depart from the faith, giving 
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, 
speaking lies in hypocrisy ; forbidding to marry, 
and commanding to abstain from meats, which 
God hath created to be received with thanksgiving 
of them which believe and know the truth" — 
*' the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth 
himself above all that is called God, or that is 
worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the 
temple of God, showing himself that he is God ; 
whose coming is after the working of Satan with 
all power and signs and lying wonders ; and with 
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that 
■ perish, because they received not the love of the 
truth that they might be saved." 

I say, therefore, my children, go to your Bible 
for instruction. Permit no power on earth to 
take the precedence of your Bible to instruct you 
finally in duty. You are not to permit even your 
father to do it. I dare not do it. Let no man be 
the keeper of your consciences. As no man can 
answer for you to God, so no one can interpret 
the word of God to you against your own con- 
scientious convictions, nor assume your respon- 
sibilities as intelligent moral agents. I cannot 
do it. And if I cannot, who can ? I act for you 
in your infancy, instruct you in your childhood, 
and, having discharged my duty, now place you 



FOBMATION OF HABITS. 113 

on your responsibility, under the light of God's 
revealed will. I say again, make the Bible your 
daily study. The manner in which this may be 
done to the greatest profit, will be made the sub- 
ject of some further instructions. 
10* 



114 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LBTTEE XX. 

DAILY READING THE BIBLE. 

My dear Childreis^,— The Bible, as our rule 
of faith and practice, is to be read and studied. 
It is to be studied that we may become persuaded 
of its authenticity and divine inspiration, that we 
may possess ourselves of its historical stores of 
learning, its divine doctrines and precepts, its 
moral sentiments and illustrations. It should be 
read daily, also, for the same purposes- — but prin 
ci pally to aid our devotions. The daily reading 
of the scriptures, attended with meditation, self- 
examination and prayer, is necessary to the pre- 
servation of a lively religious frame, and to the 
attainment of that knowledge which is good and 
*' profitable to direct." 

This habitual reference to the inspired writings 
is necessary to preserve in our minds a distinct 
view of divine things. Nothing else will do it. 
We are driven into the field of speculation ; we 
travel amid shadowy forms of truth, under every 
other tuition. We see, at most, in the descrip- 
tions of good men, in the most glowing ministry 



DAILY EEADING THE BIBLE. 115 

of truth — we liave only the bright pictures of 
those eternal realities, to which the mind reaches 
and aspires ; but here, in the scriptures, we have 
the very image of the things. We sit down to 
behold, as in a mirror, the Sun of righteousness, 
reflecting light upon our path, the glories of re- 
demption, as they are seen in the face of Jesus 
Christ. God speaks in his word. Sometimes a 
holy man or an angel may help ns to understand 
it ; but as a common rule, it is best without note 
or comment, where it is left to explain itself, and 
to quicken our powers by the effort to compare 
and educe the true meaning. 

This constant application of the word of God 
to our daily experience, is also necessary to exert 
a modifying influence on all the objects of desire 
with which we are conversant. It tells us plainly 
what the world is, and often reverses the deci- 
sions we make on its possessions. It tells us what 
we are, and contradicts our opinions of ourselves. 
It shows us what time is, and contracts it from its 
unlimited or indefinite duration, and shows it to 
be but a point. It discriminates character, and. 
regulates our choice of companions. It brings 
the possessions of this world into direct connec- 
tion with its fleeting and limited duration, and 
lifts our affections from these fading forms, which 
before appeared like durable realities. 

It administers reproof There it is, unaltered, 



116 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

Tincliangeable. It knows no accommodation to 
circumstances. It admits no compromise. Its 
principles are distinctly marked, defined and un- 
yielding. We cannot read and apply them with- 
out reproof. A friend may, and almost necessa- 
rily will, be influenced by personal considerations 
and circumstances. His feelings are enlisted. 
His prejudices, fears, prepossessions, are all pre- 
sent to give colour to bis peculiar manner of pre- 
senting the truth to us. But the word of God, 
when we consult that alone, knows no form of ac- 
commodation. If we are faithful to apply the 
caustic, it comes in its unmodified and unmixed 
power, in a direct operation upon our proud flesh, 
and must bring the diseased parts to a healthy 
action. It is profitable for instruction. The Sa- 
viour spake as never man spake. His teachings 
are here recorded. Holy men of old spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Thus 
taught, they have here recorded the truth revealed 
to them. Therefore, it is said, " All scripture is 
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in- 
struction in righteousness." 

It corrects all our other knowledge, and all 
mistakes in 'our estimation of other truths. A 
scholar, in the pursuit of human science, is ex- 
tremely apt to take those truths he investigates, 
separate from God, and consider his learning in 



DAILY READING THE BIBLE. 117 

immediate and constant reference to "himself and 
this world. The scriptures, constantly consulted, 
will lead him always to estimate all truth in refe- 
rence to God, and in view of his own relation to 
God and eternity ; and in all his investigations 
of nature, he will " look through nature up to na- 
ture's God." His own pride of intellect will con- 
stantly be checked in the comparisons here drawn, 
and a moral influence will be exerted on all his 
feelings by this reference of all truth to the great 
eternal and unalterable standard. 

The influence of divine truth is necessary to 
instruct, reprove, and correct, every day, and un- 
der all circumstances ; to bring us under the con- 
trolling power of eternal realities, and to modify 
all our views of present things. I hope you do 
not need to have motives multiplied, as they 
easily might be, to induce you to make the Bible 
the only standard of your faith, the man of your 
counsel, your manual, your daily companion. In 
making a few remarks on the manner in which 
the Bible should be read, I shall be directed 
chiefly by my own practice, adopted on expe- 
rience. 

First, I advise you to read all the Bible. I do 
not mean by this that you should task yourselves 
to read it once, and then confine your attention to 
particular portions for ever afterwards. Let your 
customary reading embrace the whole Bible, so, 



118 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

that in due time you will review the whole. It is 
a beautiful harmony which ought ever to be em- 
braced and viewed together in all its parts. This 
forms one of the evidences of its divine original. 
Every part of the Bible ought to be read by you, 
at least once a year. 

But although all parts of the Bible are profit- 
able, they are not all equally profitable at all times, 
nor profitable to the same ends. For devotional 
purposes, the historical and some other parts are 
less adapted. The Psalms of David breathe the 
most elevated spirit of devotion — and the Epis- 
tles unite the most glowing devotion with doc- 
trinal views and propositions. The Evangelists 
and Acts of the Apostles will, of course, be made 
very familiar to every habitual reader of the Bible. 
But the Psalms and Epistles are best suited to de- 
votional purposes, and may be generally, although 
they should not be exclusively, used. 

Portions of scripture, which embrace a single 
subject, should be read at once, that the connection 
may be seen. It is well, if time permit, to read a 
whole epistle at one sitting. Eead with references, 
and examine carefully parallel and corroborating 
texts, that the scriptures may be allowed to ex- 
plain themselves. Commit favourite and the most 
impressive texts, and chapters, and whole books, 
to memory. This was a habit, long pursued, of 
your dear mother. She committed to memory, 



DAILY EEADING THE BIBLE. 119 

in this way, almost tlie whole New Testament. 
The treasure was more valuable to her than gold 
or silver. It gave her often an advantage, both 
in public and in private, most important and en- 
viable. It was her design that a part of your edu- 
cation should embrace this same exercise of the 
memory. I hope your hearts are now so affec- 
tionately disposed toward divine truth that you 
will be impelled to imitate your beloved mother 
in this respect, and thus fulfil her and my own 
desire. 

"When you read your Bible, mark those pas- 
sages which you wish to commit to memory, or 
which appear particularly impressive. You can 
then easily recur to them, and when your time is 
limited, you can readily direct your reading to 
portions the most expressive and profitable. As 
the study of the Bible will form a separate sub- 
ject, I will now leave you to reflect on some of 
the motives here urged which should lead you to 
a daily reading of the scriptures, and the manner 
in which that reading may be most profitably 
conducted. - 



120 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTEE XXI. 

PRIVATE MEDITATION". 

My dear Children, — In the daily reading of 
the scriptures for the purposes of devotion, you 
will find private meditation absolutely necessary 
to any great proficiency, or intelligent and per- 
manent peace. The Bible reveals divine truth. 
That truth believed and entertained in the mind 
is the foundation of joy, greater or less, in pro- 
portion to the clearness of our perception, and 
the confidence with which it is received as the 
word of God. Having received the Bible in all 
its parts, as given to us by divine inspiration, it 
is necessary that its communications should be 
well considered, should be made the subjects of 
our careful examination, and that our hearts 
should be formed in the spirit of its truths, by 
frequent and long meditation upon them. 

Possibly there never was so much real piety 
in the church as now. But this has been justly 
characterized as a day of action. On all subjects, 
and especially on religion, there is a spirit of en- 
terprise, leading forth the benevolent as well as 



PEIVATE MEDITATION". 121 

the mercenary and ambitious to explore new 
fields of gain or beneficence, and directing all 
tbe energies of the mind to practical effect. The 
effect of this peculiar character of the age, is to 
call the student from his study to mingle in the 
current of public feeling and effort. In this fact, 
we may undoubtedly find the true cause, which 
has originated the taste for bold speculation in 
theology, and jostled us somewhat out of the pre- 
cise forms of our old systems, elaborate creeds, 
and established technicalities. The labour-saving 
principle is applied to everything. Men are not 
satisfied now with travelling at the dull rate of a 
former century, or effecting results in physics by 
the slow process of .ordinary means. When these 
novelties are applied to religion, and the ark of 
the Lord, for which the church seems to have 
been preparing a new temple, is committed to 
these bold spirits, good and thoughtful men trem- 
ble for its safety, and fear the results. But the 
church has a promise of more glorious days, and 
they are doubtless to come as the result of human 
instrumentalities. Improvements must come with 
changes. Try every new theory and new measure 
with great caution. Eeject not a theory, or a 
measure, merely because it is new, nor be immov- 
ably wedded to any system, because it has the 
sanction of names or of age. The latter course 
makes bigots, the former, fanatics ; the latter has 
11 



122 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

made the Eoman Catholic cTiurcli what it is, the 
former has originated all the extravagances, which 
mere sectarian zeal and ignorant empiricism has 
introduced to distract and degrade the church. 

The church, when she comes to the victories of 
the last times, forgetting party names, and party 
or sectarian forms, will go forth in any measures, 
and with any instrumentality, by which "the 
truth " can be made to tell on the conscience and 
reach the heart. Such a union and effort in the 
church, I hope my children may see, although I 
may not ; and the suggestions here made are 
suited to the consideration of all, even the young- 
est in the church ; when, as in this day. all must 
necessarily be theologians. 

In this call to action, to the conflict of opinion, 
and an effort for increased and unusual effect, there 
is great danger that personal religion will be 
neglected, and the standard of personal piety will 
decline. The christian goes forth to the active 
duties of the day, not having suitably imbued his 
soul with the spirit of the gospel in his closet, 
and is therefore more exposed to indiscretions 
and mistakes. His ardour is not less glowing, his 
self-devotion not less entire, his laborious applica- 
tion to duty not less unremitted, but these fires 
may be " strange ;" this self-sacrifice, ambitious ; 
these labours, fanatical. In fine, there may be 
numbers, and energy, and disregard of ease and 



PEIVATE MEDITATION. 123 

personal safety, and name ; there may be a forget- 
fulness of every thing but the object, and, after 
all, it may prove to be another "crusade," promp- 
ted by ambition in some, fanaticism in others, 
sympathy in others, and fatal mistake in all. 
Had the blood and treasure expended, and the 
zeal, self-devotion, and labours bestowed in the 
crusades of the eleventh and twelfth centuries for 
rescuing Palestine from the hands of infidels, been 
prudently and piously employed to save infidels 
from unbelief and ruin ; had the invasion of the 
Holy Land been bloodless, under the gospel com- 
mission, the conquest might now have been com- 
plete, and the triumph final. I here trace one of 
the principal dangers, which I perceive in the pe- 
culiar spirit and habits of the present age. The 
strong tendency to action, the desire for immedi- 
ate effect, dictated, perhaps, by the best of feel- 
ings, by the love of souls, is hurrying men out 
from their retired meditations, fired with a " zeal 
not according to knowledge," not sufficiently 
chastened to accomplish great things " in the name 
of the Lord." I think I plainly see, in the " im- 
mediatism " of one class of christians of the pre- 
sent day, piety and zeal enough to subjugate the 
world, could it pervade the church universally, 
but indiscretion, and haste, and recklessness 
enough to ruin the christian cause, or retard it for 
centuries ; all for want of the practical exercise 



124 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

and presiding influence of " that wisdom whicli 
Cometh down from above, which is first pnre, then 
peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of 
mercy and good fruits, without partiality and 
without hypocrisy." Unless this spirit be ar- 
rested, and a deeper spirit of humility pervade 
the church, I greatly fear her triumph is to be 
long deferred, and the bright sun of this day of 
hope will set in blood. 

If I could do one thing for the church, and do 
but one, in the employment of means for her pu- 
rification and efficient influence, I would shut up 
every member for one hour in his chamber for 
silent meditation, every morning before he goes 
forth to the business of the day. If I were called 
upon to name one indication more than any other 
of ill omen in the church at the present day, I 
should say there is a wildness in her eye, which 
indicates a want of suitable reflection. There is, 
indeed, a spirit-stirring influence now at work ; 
there is a self-sacrificing spirit in the church, a 
zeal, an action, an energy, which would insure 
efficient results, if the mild, and humble, and un- 
pretending spirit of "God as manifested in the 
flesh," is permitted to control and direct the 
whole. Oh, for the Spirit of Christ to pervade 
our spirits, to control, and mould, and energize 
the church on earth ! Oh, for an unquenchable 
fire of devotion that may burn up our dross, and 



PRIVATE MEDITATION. 125 

melt the cTiurcli into one body ! Oh, for the love 
that shone on Calvary, and the wisdom of God to 
temper and direct its energies ! All this may be 
ours. And if it do not bless the church at large, 
it shall be the portion from the hand of God to 
each humble disciple, who waits in secret on him 
for direction. " Let the words of my mouth, and 
the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy 
sight, O Lord, my strength and my Eedeemer." 
11* 



126 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTERXXII. 

• MEDITATION. 

My DEAR Children, — Meditation is as neces- 
sary to form a consistent religious character as it 
is essential to a spirit of devotion. Our duty must 
be carefully examined, our object distinctly appre- 
hended, our plans deliberately formed, our course 
of action premeditated and defined, and the whole 
frequently reviewed. Under painful experience of 
the world's influence on a spirit of devotion, the 
soul aspiring to a religious life may be disposed 
to abandon the connections, which furnish such fa- 
tal temptations. Thus originated, very early in the 
history of the church, the monastic life. In a con- 
templative mood, and smarting under the effects of 
temptation and sinful compliances, most serious 
persons have been led sometimes to desire seclusion 
from the world. Leaving this extreme, and en- 
gaging in the active duties of life, we are liable to be 
driven to an opposite error, and neglect retired 
meditation altogether. We are not at liberty to re- 
tire from active duty in society. A part of that 
duty therefore lies in a preparation for social and 
public life by retired private meditation. 



MEDITATION. 127 

We cannot understand all truth at once, nor the 
various important bearings of any one truth. We 
must be practised in the school of Christ, and we 
are learners in mental discipline, and in intellec- 
tual acquisition, as children introduced to a new 
circle of objects, or a new science. It is by reflec- 
tion and study that we advance in religious know- 
ledge. It comes not by intuition, nor does it 
appear in its maturity to the unpractised faculties 
of the soul. We first can only say that, whereas 
we were once blind, now we see. But our vision 
is imperfect. We see men as trees walking. We 
come gradually to greater distinctness of vision, 
and maturity of understanding. We arrive at 
clear views of truth only by serious, continued, 
and persevering meditation upon it. 

But it is not only necessary that we be intellec- 
tual christians by admitting the evidence of the 
christian religion, and yielding our assent to its 
claims, but also that we be christians indeed by hav- 
ing our minds imbued with the spirit of the truth. 
This is one of the results of religious meditation 
on a mind, which has been touched and renewed 
by its power. To treasure the truth in memory's 
store-house, and call it up in the secret silence of 
the mind to occupy its leisure hours, and to give 
direction to its affections and energies, is a means 
of imparting to the soul the spirit of the truth 
itself. It is like leaven ; when quickened and en- 



128 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

ergized by divine grace in the heart, it diffuses 
itself, and imparts its own qualities to the whole 
mass. 

It is the means and source of devotion. David 
says, " While I was musing, the fire burned." A 
spirit of holy devotion is awakened in the heart 
while it meditates on divine truth. The psalmist 
also breaks forth in the following rapturous excla- 
mation, " Oh, how love I thy law ; it is my medita- 
tion all the day I" What is the result ? "I have," 
he says, " more understanding than all my teach- 
ers; for thy testimonies are my meditatiou." 
Again, he says — " How sweet are thy words unto 
my taste ! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth !" 
And again he declares, " My zeal hath consumed 
me"—" I delight to do thy will, my God I" 
Thus his habit of retired meditation was, to Da- 
vid, the fruitful source of love, knowledge, happi- 
ness, and devotion. Yet he cultivated this habit, 
so efficient to control his conduct, amid the most 
numerous duties which pressed upon him as the 
ruler of a great people, and with a multitude of pri- 
vate duties rarely exceeded. 

I separate meditation, as a religious exercise, 
from self examination, to which I design to call 
your attention in my next. It may, and properly 
will, be connected with that self-examination and 
attended with secret prayer — ^but it is a separate 
and distinct exercise. The result of our self-ex- 



MEDITATION". 129 

amination may furnisli a subject for meditation ; 
so may any truth at any time. In mixed com- 
pany, where no profitable subject is introduced, 
the mind that is contemplative may always ab- 
stract its own attention, and select its own sub- 
ject. Where no rules of civility call for our par- 
ticular attentions to the company, this may always 
be done with propriety, and sometimes with pro- 
fit ; as among strangers in a stage-coach or steam- 
boat; where the conversation is engrossed by 
subjects and by persons with whom we cannot 
sympathize. The " mind is its own place," and 
should be so disciplined as not to be subjected to 
the control of every tongue that cannot be silent, 
and yet has no sense to utter. 

I dislike to see a young lady always in a 
" brown study," or absent, without good reason, 
from the company she is in ; but it sometimes is 
excellent to see a modest female really inattentive 
to impertinence, which was designed to engage 
her attention. You have heard the story of the 
" little red book." A female was travelling in a 
stage coach, with a mixed company — one of them 
a young man, loud with his infidelity. The lady 
was silent. She had a " little red book," contain- 
ing pious meditations. She occasionally opened 
it, and pursued her own reflections. Soon they 
were involved in difficulty and danger, through 
the imprudence of an intoxicated driver. The 



130 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

infidel abandoned his argument. His cheek 
turned pale, his lip quivered. Now the lady sat 
unmoved and resigned. She continued her pro- 
fitable and appropriate meditations, while the agi- 
tated infidel, disconcerted, was left to his princi- 
ples with no habit of pious contemplation. 

Profitable subjects of meditation are furnished 
everywhere in the common incidents of life. 
But the richest, the best, are contained in those 
precious portions of scripture which you have 
marked with your pencil and committed to 
memory. The promises, how precious as subjects 
of meditation ! The love of God, the sufferings 
of Christ, the atonement, the blessed state and 
employments of heaven — subjects like these under 
a comprehensive text that embraces or leads to 
any one of them, may well engross the thoughts 
to the exclusion of all ordinary subjects. 

While you should scrupulously avoid all affec- 
tation of a musing, contemplative mood, and like- 
wise all reality of an absent manner in company, 
never hesitate to think, and to think indepen- 
dently, for yourselves. I know it is a terrible 
idea to some men to be in the society of a think- 
ing lady. Those are the very beings whom I 
would have you to repel from your company. 
The gospel gives you the rights, and subjects you 
to the responsibility, of reasonable, intelligent, 
and accountable beings. Act worthy of your 



MEDITATION. 131 

true dignity, and bind that gospel to your hearts 
which has rescued your sex from the control of 
those monsters in the shape of men, who are 
afraid to see the signs of intellectual development 
in a lady. You are always their superiors, and 
can, and ought to, subject them to their merited 
obscurity. I once saw one of them struck per- 
fectly dumb for the remainder of the journey, to the 
great relief of the whole company in a stage coach, 
by the sprightly and intelligent reply of a young 
lady, whom he sought to engage in conversation 
without sense. He attempted to rally her from a 
pensive mood by the best remark he had yet 
made, in that little borrowed sentence, " A penny 
for your thoughts." " I have been admiring," said 
she, " these noble hills of granite — pray, sir, what 
are the minerals of your State?" What he meant, 
perhaps, as a jest, proved a reality — she had 
thoughts, and he had none. 



132 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XXIII. 

SELF-EXAMINATION AND SECKET PKAYER. 

My dear Children, — Daily devotion, of whicli 
I have been urging yon to form right habits, em- 
braces self-examination and secret prayer, in con- 
nection with reading the Bible, and meditation. 
I need not say that individual character, in its 
public display to others in the common intercourse 
of life, will depend on the fidelity with which 
these habits are cherished. They serve to revive 
and strengthen the principle of religion in the 
soul, if it has, by divine grace, been implanted 
there. They fan the flame of devotion, and trim 
the lamp, that its light may be clear and produc- 
tive of practical good to all who are in the house. 

In secret prayer, we come with the single and 
unembarrassed expression of our own feelings, 
always more or less constrained where we pray in 
the presence of others, or are led by their peti- 
tions. Social prayer is delightful, useful, neces- 
sary ; but it can never supersede the necessity of 
those separate appeals, in which the soul comes 
with " its own bitterness," often of a private na- 



SELF-EXAMINATION AND SECEET PEAYER. 133 

ture, and sometimes inexpressible, and pours out 
itself, in the strong and undissembled sorrows of 
a child, before Him who looketh on the heart. 
The affairs of the soul are of such a nature that 
thej can never be settled, never disposed of in the 
gross. Its sins must be separately and minutely 
considered. Eepentance must extend, separately 
and minutely, to our sins, or they will never be 
safely disposed of against the judgment day. 
This is not a concern in which we can throw our- 
selves on the plan of mercy in a great partner- 
ship with a world of sinners, and find our share 
of its benefits. These benefits come in exact ac- 
cordance with the separate adaptations of the soul 
itself; and with every one, it is an individual con- 
cern, in which, as a convicted sinner, he is sepa- 
rately concerned, and answers for himself alone 
and entirely, just as if there were no other sinner 
in the universe. 

We are exceedingly prone to find leaning 
places, to rest on others, and to involve ourselves, 
so as to throw off personal responsibility. This 
is always dangerous — it is fatal just so far as it 
involves deadly sins. We cannot transfer respon- 
sibility. You must answer for yourselves; and 
even a parent on whom you are accustomed to 
lean, to whom you look for advice, who takes you 
up and cherishes you, and often assumes your 

cares, cannot come to your relief in this great 
12 



134 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

matter. You must, then, know yourselves. You 
must come to Christ separately and alone. You 
must stand in judgment at the bar of your own 
consciences, and before God, at an audience where 
I cannot enter, where no human footstep can in- 
trude, where angels cannot be admitted. 

The root of all guilt is deep laid in the human 
constitution ; it germinates and shows its living- 
principle in the strong and secret workings of 
the heart ; it brings forth its fruit in the public 
acts, seen and known of all men. But the essen- 
tial character of the tree is not radically changed 
when it brings no fruit to perfection ; nor is the 
soul, rancorous in its hatred to God, less guilty 
because its bitterness is not developed by ex- 
ternal acts to the observation of others. Be- 
tween the soul and God, then, there lies a great, 
solemn, and personal matter of concern, which 
requires an individual and separate examination, 
interview, and reconciliation at the throne of 
grace. 

This view is of the most momentous import- 
ance. Many think religion consists in a public 
form ; that they are religious when they conde- 
scend to read their Bible, say their prayers, sanc- 
tion the Sabbath and public preaching by their 
presence, receive baptism, and partake of the Lord's 
supper, as sealing ordinances, the former consti- 
tuting regeneration, and the latter communion 



SELF-EXAMINATION AND SECEET PRAYER. 135 

with Grod. So far from it, these holy sacraments, 
thus perverted, become the seal of their damna- 
tion. They condemn themselves in what they do. 
They eat and drink damnation to themselves. 
True religion lies between the soul and God. It 
has been excluded by a spirit of enmity — that 
enmity must be slain. It may be dishonoured 
by worldly compliances — all those cherished hab- 
its must be abandoned. Love to God, and devo- 
tion to his cause, as a living principle in the heart, 
must lay the foundation for all bur professions, 
hopes, and peace in believing. Daily communion 
with God, sweet, near and personal, must prove 
to us the reality of our religion, and be the life 
of our hope. 

To know what we are in religion, then, we 
must keep a separate, personal account with our- 
selves. "We must go separately to God with our 
case. We must, in the secret silence of the 
mind, examine ourselves in regard to the spirit 
and temper we cherish, in relation to God, to our 
neighbour, to every object with which we are con- 
nected, or to which we are related. Without this 
we can never know what manner of spirit we are 
of. We can never go to God, carrying our wants 
and ordering our speech aright. With the know- 
ledge we have acquired, we can carry our case be- 
fore the throne. We can present precisely the 
point that labours. We can go with it to the 



136 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

Bible, and there learn wliat is its character as 
tried by tbe law. "We can go with it before a 
tbrone of grace, and ask of God, for Christ's sake, 
the very mercy we need ; and then we may be 
able to know the results. . With this knowledge 
of our true standing, we shall be able to apply to 
ourselves the consolations or alarms which the 
truth in the case may warrant. 

Self-examination is absolutely necessary to a 
knowledge of ourselves. Secret prayer, in which 
we go alone to God, is equally necessary to lead 
US to this definite knowledge, and to cherish it in 
our bosoms. These positions are proved in the 
experience of all christians. We cannot live a 
day but they are fully verified, and the longer we 
live the more deeply will our experience enforce 
them on our conviction. 

The time to be occupied in private devotion, 
embracing self-examination and prayer, must be, 
to some extent, subject to circumstances, and can- 
not be prescribed with any uniform rule of uni- 
versal application. It must, in all cases, however, 
be daily practised, if possible. It is not safe to 
let the events of a single day pass into the un- 
distinguished history of the past, without review ; 
to let one unrepented sin pass into forgetful- 
ness, to rise up fresh in our vivid recollection at 
the day of judgment. The morning and evening 
are seasons naturally marked and suited to these 



SELF-EXAMINATION AND SECEET PRAYER. 137 

duties, and thej should be botli improved, if pos- 
sible, to furnisli an hour, at least, for private de- 
votion. This is not always practicable ; and when 
it is not, the mind ought to avail itself of its 
habit of meditation, to retire even in the midst 
of company, to compose itself to a devotional 
frame, to put on the armour suited to its warfare, 
and to recognize and feel its personal responsi- 
bilities. " The little red book" may be extracted 
from the indispensable as an essential article of 
its furniture, a subject out of it for the morning 
or evening furnished, and replaced without so 
much disrespect to your fellow worms, as you 
would show disrespect to God by a neglect to 
raise your heart in prayer and praise at the be- 
ginning or close of the day. But, in ordinary 
circumstances, we may find set forms of retire- 
ment practicable, of greater or less duration. 
When we rise in the morning, it is always con- 
venient to bend the knee at our bedside, and make 
the discipline and religious exercise of the soul 
a part of the ceremony of dressing. The same 
may be said of our hour and forms of retiring to 
rest. 

Observe the habits of pious men and women, 
as disclosed in their memoirs, where those records 
have admitted us to a view of their retired hab- 
its of devotion and self-discipline. Observe, in 
your own experience, what is necessary to your 
12* 



138 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

spiritual life and enjoyment, and practise accord- 
ingly. Col. Gardiner, amid tlie trials and tumults 
of the camp, uniformly rose two hours before 
day, that he might employ those silent and undis- 
turbed hours in private devotion. The habits of 
Sir Matthew Hale were similar. Sir Edward 
Coke, another eminent English jurist, expressed 
his views in the following couplet : 

" Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six, 
Four spend in prayer, the rest on nature fix." 

Sir William Jones says : 

" Six hours to law, to soothing slumber seven, 
Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven." 



THE EESULT OF A HOLY LIFE. 139 



LETTER XXIV. 

THE EESULT OF A HOLY LIFE. 

My deae Childeen, — As much as my widowed 
heart embraces you, the living images of your de- 
parted mother; and as much as I depend on you 
to take her place in my earthly affections, so far 
as those affections can be transferred, or you can 
occupy a larger space in a father's love, I would 
yet much rather see you die prepared, and live 
a while alone, in the hope of an eternal union, 
than to enjoy your society to old age here, with 
the prospect of an eternal separation. It is now 
with the hope that in one of various ways I may 
bring death to your view in an impressive form, 
connected with the results of a holy life, I give 
you some further particulars of a young lady al- 
ready referred to, in my thirteenth letter, under the 
name of Sophronia. The following is the close of 
the sermon preached at her funeral, Feb. 28, 1825. 

" Sophronia Coleman* was born January 19, 
1802, and, of course, died near the age of twenty- 
three. As far as personal beauty is valuable, she 

* Daughter of Dr. William Coleman, of Pittsfield, Mass. 



140 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

was sufficiently favoured by nature. Slie pos- 
sessed a mind active, strong, and discriminating. 
Under favourable advantages, she cultivated her 
intellectual powers so far as to place her in a rank 
with the most accomplished of her sex. The chief 
excellence of her character, however, aod that 
which it is most pleasant to hear and speak of at 
her funeral, is that the ' Lord was her ' hope,'' 
Although myself a stranger to her early years, I 
speak with confidence when I say, the birth of 
this hope in her childhood was attended with that 
conviction of sin, that penitence, that fleeing to 
Christ, that trust in him, that joy, those good fruits 
which are characteristic of the true christian. 
That it was operative, and supported her in the 
near prospect of death, is also eminently true. 

" Another most interesting fact in her history is, 
that 'God was her hope, even from her youth.' 
At the age of seven years, she became the subject 
of serious impressions, and at that early period of 
life, after a course of very distressing conviction, 
she commenced the discharge of christian duties, 
under which her hope has been strengthened, and 
she was richly furnished for the final conflict to 
which she has been so early, not to say prema- 
turely, called. From this early age, she exhibited 
a decided change in her general deportment, and 
commenced those retired religious duties which 
will ever characterize a fervent spirit. It is in- 



THE RESULT OF A HOLY LIFE. 141 

teresting to learn from those who were the obser- 
vers of her daily walk that, at this early age, she 
commenced the duty of secret prayer, and there 
is evidence that the duty has never been omitted 
for a single day since that time when she was able 
to retire. 

" Her uniform habit was to retire for this purpose, 
three times a day — sometimes oftener. Her Bible 
and her closet were her delight. Indeed it is plea- 
sant to notice in her pocket Bible, the evidence 
of good usage, and the many striking passages 
marked by her hand, to form the particular sub- 
jects of her meditation, and which have refreshed 
the soul of this lovely saint while on earth. 

" Besides her regular attendance on her stated 
hours of prayer, she rarely undertook anything^ 
not even the writing of a common letter, without 
first retiring to seek the blessing of God ; and the 
space of one hour at her stated devotions, bore 
testimony that it was an employment she loved. 
I may add also, that the ear into which children, 
in their filial confidence, speak all they feel, has 
heard her often declare that she was sometimes 
constrained to spend whole nights in prayer, and 
that she often had the most delightful views of 
God and of divine truth. 

" A spirit thus tender and thus imbued, it may 
be justly supposed, was very scrupulous in the 
regular discharge of every duty of life. It was 



142 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

SO. Everything was ordered and arranged by her 
in reference to eternity, and a childhood and 
youth thus spent, could not but bring forward old 
age with rapid it}^, if we ' count that life long, 
which answers life's great end.' She is now gone 
— gone for ever ! But she lived long enough 
She was older than many of more numerous 
years. It is pleasant to be able to say such things 
at her funeral, it brings consolation to mourners, 
and instruction to all. Let it speak. Let it 
speak to youth — especially to those of her own 
sex. 

" First, consider the early age at which she com- 
menced a religious life, and hear the manner m 
which she speaks of the beginning of life as fa- 
vourable for religious duty and enjoyment. 
"What I am about to repeat is from a very credi- 
table piece, which, from among a great mass of 
her manuscripts, found its way into a periodical 
paper. ' The morning of life,' says she, ' is al- 
together the most favourable season for a life of 
holiness, as the heart is more tender and more sus- 
ceptible of religious impressions. Should any 
misguided youth flatter himself that a few dying 
confessions will atone for his sins, and appease 
the wrath of an incensed Grod, he will, in horror 
and despair, find himself awfully mistaken, and 
with bitter experience and lamentation, feel the 
justice of God in withholding then that mercy, 
which he now so impiously disregards.' 



THE KESULT OF A HOLY LIFE. 143 

"After such a commencement of her life, consi- 
der how she spent her time. Her Bible and her 
closet were her delight. They had charms which 
always could call her away from any pursuit of 
mere worldly pleasure. She was not melancholy 
— no one farther from it. Yet she was not vain, 
light, frivolous. She could smile at what was in- 
nocently gay or amusing, but she could not laugh 
at what was sinful. She did not shun society — 
she often enjoyed it. But all her social inter- 
course must be made subservient to her religious 
duties, or give way to them. She could not bar- 
ter the happiness she found in her closet commu- 
ning with her Saviour, for any other pleasures. 
She would not compromise on any matter which 
was to rob her of her devotions. She was not in- 
attentive to her dress, for the most perfect neat- 
ness uniformly marked her person, and all that 
pertained to her. Neither was she unmindful of 
the common notices of civility in social life, for 
the discharge of which her religious habits emi- 
nently prepared her. But there was a mark of 
civility — something more — an imperious duty she 
owed her own soul and her Saviour, the para- 
mount claim of which she ever felt, and on which 
she regulated her own conduct. 

" Consider the end for which this course of life 
prepared her. When she saw death approaching 
with rapid and certain step, her steady eye looked 



144 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

on with composure. Slie was resigned — slie was 
willing to die. She felt what those who think 
most seriously, feel most deeply, that it is a sol- 
emn thing to exchange worlds. Yet she trusted 
in God, and believed he had prepared for her a 
mansion in heaven. Under a state of nervous 
irritability, which attended her sickness, she did 
sometimes look on the pangs of death with dread ; 
but God was very gracious to spare her this bitter 
experience, for I saw her gently sink into the 
arms of death with less apparent pain than it or- 
dinarily cost her to breathe. So may we be per- 
mitted to fall asleep in death — not so much with- 
out a momentary struggle, as supported by a 
hope, and adorned with a character like hers. 

" Finally, I ask you to consider, what w^ould bo 
your state, if this were your funeral instead of 
hers ? Where would you be — in heaven, or hell ? 
What variations must there have been in this dis- 
course, to have suited your case ? What kind of 
consolations should we have offered to surviving 
friends ? The time will soon arrive, when the 
undertaker will be called to provide your funeral, 
when the solitary shroud shall take the place of 
your present coverings, when the tolling bell shall 
assemble your mourners, and when I shall be 
asked, if permitted to survive you, and to attend 
at your death-bed, how you felt, and how you died. 
Gay youth, where are you going in your vanity ? 



THE KESULT OF A HOLY LIFE. 145 

Stop, I entreat you. Consider well the conse- 
quences of what you do. And despise not, I be- 
seech you, the forbearance of God, which would 
lead you to repentance. 

" If there be any condition to be envied, it is 
that of a pious youth brought to an early grave. 
He has lived long enough to reap all that can be 
here gained. He has ' answered life's great end.* 
He has ripened for a higher state of being and en- 
joyment, and he has nothing that should detain 
him here. The cares of this life, in its best en- 
joyment, must press heavily upon him. But 
everything in his life in heaven is bright and 
pure. 

" How sweet is the sleep of a saint in death ! 
How dignified ! How glorious his resurrection ! 
How interesting the associations which attend ou 
his funeral, solemn, sublime, glorious ! Such let 
mine be. Such be yours. ' Let me die the death 
of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.' 
But to die the death of the righteous, we must 
have his hope, we must live his life, we must pos- 
sess his experience. Are you destitute of this 
hope, this life, this experience ? Just answer this 
question. Answer it before God, and at the tri- 
bunal of conscience. Answer it at the grave's 
mouth to-day, and on the brink of eternity. 
Then, let your future life be regulated by the an- 
swer. For soon the prospect before you will be 
13 



146 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

past over, the name you so carefully trace on 
every object you here possess, and call it yours, 
will be obliterated. Instead of the pleasure it now 
imparts, its very sound will awaken melancholy 
recollections in the minds of surviving friends. 
It will be transferred from other places and stand 
solitary, engraved on the marble slab that marks 
your grave. Soon the marble crumbles, and no 
place is found on earth to recover your history. 
The earth itself shall be burnt up, while it is pro- 
claimed through the universe — ' Time shall be no 
longer.' And is this all? No. Before these 
things, the earth and sea shall give up their dead, 
and you shall live, deathless, immortal, quick to 
feel your moral obligation, which can never cease 
to hold you to the law of God ; and alive to expe- 
rience, through eternity, all that, for which your 
earthly probation, then finished, shall have pre- 
pared you." 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION". 147 



LETTER XXV. 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

My dear Children, — Keligion prepares us to 
live in the best manner, and possesses a vital 
principle, which death cannot reach. At death, 
"tongues shall cease and knowledge shall vanish 
away;" "sin kills beyond the tomb," but "char- 
ity never faileth." It is not without a reason, 
therefore, that I have said so much, and dwelt so 
long on the formation of religious character and 
habits. Keview what I have said, and carefully 
reduce to practice a father's counsels, drawn from 
the word of God, sanctioned by experience, and 
enforced by every filial obligation, by every prin- 
ciple of duty. 

Although flesh is dust, and is soon turned to 
corruption, yet it forms a tenement for the im- 
mortal spirit here, and acts with great power on 
our moral and intellectual constitution. It de- 
serves, therefore, the most careful attention, much 
more than is commonly awarded to it. If we 
compare our bodies with all other works of art, 
whether in nature, or in the sphere of human in- 



148 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

genuity, we shall be struck witli its superior .me- 
chanical perfection, beauty, and utility. It is 
ours — furnished and fitted to the uses of the soul 
by a divine architect. If we attend to the ana- 
tomy of its structure, every minute and separate 
part surprises us by its curious workmanship and 
acurate adaptations. The eye, how wonderfully 
delicate in its structure, commodious in the pos- 
ition assigned to it, and how signally various and 
important its uses ! Put it out, and we are left in 
perpetual midnight. And yet, always waking, we 
are soon wearied, and languish for want of rest. 
How wonderful the provision, which enables the 
body, by the dictate of its own weariness, to wrap 
this globe of light with its lenses and picture-can- 
vass, in a fold of its own flesh, so that its excitino^ 
causes cease, and the world is shut out from the 
soul, left to rest, or to its own meditations! 
Preserve carefully that delicate organ, so necessary 
to the student, so important whether we pursue 
business, or amusement, or pleasure, so indispen- 
sable in everything. By inattention to this caution, 
so common with the young, we are often called to 
see the incongruity of youth in spectacles ; parents 
are disappointed of their hopes in the education 
of their children, compelled to relinquish their 
studies, and premature old age seizes on the most 
sensitive and important inlet of knowledge and 
thought. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 149 

Similar remarks miglit be made in application 
to all the senses, which would impress upon us 
the duty to preserve them unimpaired, and direct 
them on objects which might contribute to our 
pleasure, constantly sustained without an unneces- 
sary expenditure of animal life. The mind should 
be also awakened to similar reflections on all the 
parts and powers of our physical constitution. 
The hand and arm, how admirably adapted in all 
their powers of motion for the uses to which they 
are designed I We cannot lose a finger nail, with- 
out serious injury. We cannot improve in a sin- 
gle particular on the wisdom of Grod. 

I have no doubt that in the philosophy of na- 
ture's works, we shall find that utility adds essen- 
tially to the beauty of objects. There is a great 
mistake in the estimates commonly formed of per- 
sonal beauty, as consisting in lines, surfaces, and 
colours. Unconnected with utility no forms can 
continue to please. On the contrary, objects the 
most pleasing soon change even to disgust. This 
is universally true, even of personal charms. Ma- 
trimonial connections, therefore, which are formed 
on mere fancy, where there are no enduring qua- 
lities to command respect, usually terminate un- 
happily, and for the plain reason that " beauty 
soon fades." The qualities of the mind and heart 
alone survive to exert their abiding influence on 
the respect and love of the admirers of our gayer 
and fresher days. 

13* 



150 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

Ordinarily, the greatest calamity, which can 
befall a young lady, is to be pronounced by the 
world beautiful in her person. Like other animal 
substances, which attract merely sensual flies and 
insects, she is soon surrounded by a swarm of 
creatures which blight all that is fair, and turn to 
disease all that is healthful and sound. The mo- 
ment a young lady is pronounced a beauty, there 
is an end to study and the cultivation of more 
enduring qualities. Soon, she has no time for 
anything but dress, and balls, and parties, and idle 
conversation with the idle. The breath of flat- 
tery has reached her, and she is inflated, giddy, 
and light. I have never seen an unfortunate 
being of this class, who was contented with the 
*' form and feature " that nature had given her. 
She must needs have "some improvement still." 
And health is soon undermined by the corset, the 
light dress, and exposure to night air. A little 
disappointment or chagrin is suflicient to send the 
vital current rushing to the heart, to engorge the 
lungs already compressed and dislodged from the 
ample space which nature assigned them, and she 
sinks to an early grave in a quick consumption. 
But if she survives these repeated shocks and phy- 
sical obstructions, nature relaxes and gradually 
sinks. The fading cheek must be renewed by ar- 
tificial touches of the pencil, new teeth must be 
stolen from the dead, the breath must be perfumed, 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 151 

tresses borrowed, and soon a form, almost entirely 
artificial, stands the object of general neglect, 
where lately that beauty shone and attracted the 
gaze of fools. The beauty has vanished into the 
air, and there is nothing left to interest the be- 
holder. 

The greatest physical blessing is health, and a 
form without personal beauty ; completeness in 
all the limbs and organs without deformity. 
When measured in all its dangers and ordinary 
influence, it is undoubtedly a greater calamity to 
be beautiful, than to be deformed, as much as hu- 
mility is better than pride. With a judicious 
constitution of habits, health is preserved, and 
personal improvements come with age, while 
youthful beauty is often lavished or murdered by 
the very artificial means used to increase it. 

The preservation of health is among our first 
duties, and inseparable from the first law of nature 
which requires us to preserve our lives. Inti- 
mately dependent on it are happiness and useful- 
ness, as well as moral soundness and intellectual 
vigour. On the subject of health, let me say to 
you, it is principally affected by three causes — 
employment, diet, and exercise. 

Employment, both of body and of mind, is 
essential to sound health. This is the order of 
nature, the law of God. This employment should 
suitably fill up our time, and be fitted in its degree 



152 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

to our strength, and peculiar circumstances. Tiie 
mere lounging student will never be character- 
ized by an active and energetic intellect. You 
cannot acquire your lesson in bed any better than 
you can sew or knit there. The mind insists on 
a posture suited to the body. Even in his studies, 
the student should maintain an erect posture, es- 
pecially at the writing-table, that the chest may 
be thrown open, and the lungs have their proper 
room. The apparel should be suitably loose to 
allow the regular circulations unobstructed, and 
nature should, in all things, be allowed to proceed 
without interruptions. The decencies and pro- 
prieties of life are the forms and manners, which 
the scholar should carry into the duties of the 
school, and the school-room. The mind should 
find its employment in study as a matter of busi- 
ness. It should be occupied with the subject un- 
til it is mastered, revived by suitable relaxation^ 
but never suffered to wander in airy speculations, 
or waste its energy in an idle, lazy habit. A too 
intense application, long continued, may prove as 
fatal as lassitude and laziness. 

The diet of a student should always be plain, 
moderate, and seasonable. The luxurious table is 
unsuited to the promotion of health and happiness 
under all circumstances — ^but fatal to those of a 
sedentary and studious habit. Many of the pecu- 
liar diseases of students, I have observed, have 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 153 

tlieir origin in a want of care in eating, . either too 
much or too little, of improper food, or at un- 
suitable seasons. 

But the evils from the two sources just men- 
tioned would be much diminished by a proper 
regard to exercise and rest. To a student it is of 
great importance these should be regular, and 
suitable both in kind and quantity. The vigour, 
both of body and mind, depends greatly on a qui- 
etude and equilibrium, to which due exercise and 
rest are essentially requisite. Early rising, and 
early rest, are very judiciously made a subject of 
law in your school. But every one requires a 
personal discipline, to make the best rules avail- 
able to the greatest good. I will now only say, 
let not a busy and anxious mind interrupt and 
dissipate your appropriate hours of rest. Disci- 
pline and curb a prurient imagination. Require 
the mind, when you lie down, to relinquish both 
its work and its play. Suppress anxiety, that 
you may invite sleep, " kind nature's sweet re- 
storer." Rise when you wake, if it be the hour 
for rising. J^ever indulge in a slothful disposi- 
tion in bed. Relax the mind from all its efforts 
in the hours of recreation, and apply it with un- 
divided attention when engaged, and let your ex- 
ercise be always sufficient to save the mind from 
lassitude and fatigue in its regular duties of study. 
In this way every change becomes a source of 



Ihi DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

relaxation, and tlie mind, necessarily active, finds 
its enjoyments in its duties. 

So far as physical endowments are considered, 
the young lady who enjoys good health and a pro- 
per person, and preserves them, will soon sur- 
pass, in all that has power to please, the acknow- 
ledged beauty who passes her summer day in the 
sunshine of flattery that is rendered to the " fa- 
ding forms " and dying colours of flesh and blood. 
Your early friends will soon be greatly diminished 
in number, by change of circumstances, if not by 
death. Flatterers, if you have been so unfortu- 
nate as to have them, will seek new objects of ad- 
miration and attention, and you will find your- 
selves left to the circles of moral or intellectual 
society, which you have secured by the stern 
habits of your own minds, or to the few friends 
whose attachment you have secured by the unfail- 
ing exercise of those habits and virtues. 



DEPORTMENT TOWARDS TEACHERS. 155 



LETTER XXVI. 

DEPORTMENT TOWARDS TEACHERS. 

My dear Children, — When I commit your 
education to other hands, I of necessity relin- 
quish my personal supervision and attention. 
Could I abandon you in the most important and 
critical period of your life to your own inexper- 
ience, or to the influence of bad counsels or bad 
examples, I should betray my highest trust to 
do it. I require in your teachers not only ability 
to teach, but authority and moral energy to gov- 
ern. I require a character, which you can re- 
spect, and a sense of responsibility, which will 
make that government parental. I do not say 
that all teachers of youth possess these qualifica- 
tions, but none others could receive my patronage, 
none others should receive any patronage. 
; I would no sooner commit the instruction of 
my child to one, in whose whole character I could 
not have entire confidence, than I would place 
pure gold in the hands of a dishonest goldsmith 
to set my jewels, or expose those jewels, unpro- 
tected, to thieves and robbers. These views of 



156 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

my own responsibility have dictated my duties 
toward you in providing for your education. 

The parent, who can place his child beyond his 
supervision without subjection to a competent 
authority, and a safe protection, has never yet 
learnt the true responsibility, nor felt the proper 
sympathy of a parent. The teacher who cannot 
himself feel the responsibility of a parent, and 
who is not awakened to all the deep sympathies 
of a parent, is unfit to conduct the education of 
the young. The youth, who does not regard his 
teacher with something of that respect which is 
due to a parent, with the subjection rendered to a 
protector, is not prepared to profit suitably by 
his instructions, will neither make a profitable 
scholar, nor a grateful child. 

Eespect is not the subject of command. Ifc 
must be the deliberate and free assent of the mind 
to acknowledged worth. The deserving teacher 
secures it from his pupil, and if he cannot, he is 
unfit to teach. Doing this, he will generally gain 
willingly, that which must be enforced if neces- 
sary — obedience. The parent who does not en- 
force this upon his child, and demand it in the 
government of the school, indulges his child to 
his own ruin. There is not a deeper root of evil, 
that a parent can plant in the path of a youth, 
than to commit his education to unskilful hands, 
or inculcate such sentiments as will lead him to 



DEPOKTMENT TOWARDS TEACHERS. 157 

insubordination, or encourage and support him 
in disobedience to the rules of the school. In the 
school-room, and the period of pupilage, charac- 
ter is taking its cast. The mind is thrown into 
the mould, and is passing as from a state of fusion 
to a permanent form. This it is, which gives to 
this period of life and to these circumstances, 
their principal power over our future destinies. 
Here is the secret of that influence which the 
teacher must exert over his pupil for weal or 
for wo. 

The youth who receives lessons of insubordi- 
nation under parental sanction, will be lawless 
under every government in after life. He will 
be a bad citizen, a bad husband, a bad neigh- 
bour, a bad parent, bad in every relation. An 
unruled spirit prepares for rebellion to every 
rightful authority, and will hurry its possessor on 
to war with the Most High. The same spirit will 
make a tyrant in the exercise of authority, and 
will subject every action to the control of caprice 
or passion. The school-rooms, therefore, may be 
regarded as the little nurseries of the common- 
wealth, where its meritorious sons and daughters, 
its good citizens, its devoted mothers, are trained 
to their duties, and prepared to bless their country. 

I respect, therefore, the laborious, devoted, and 
successful teacher of youth. If any citizen de- 
serves distinguished honour of his country, it is 



158 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

the man, who has spent a long and laborious life 
in the successfnl education of her citizens, her 
sons and her daughters, become at length the fa- 
thers and mothers of a new generation. I make 
these remarks to you, my children, to present dis- 
tinctly to your view the principle on which you 
owe respect and obedience to your teachers. 
Rightly understood, the principle will produce a 
right practice as the spontaneous action of your 
own conviction and choice. But as I have ever 
required obedience of my children at home, I re- 
quire it on the grounds already stated, at school — • 
obedience to those to whom I have committed 
their education. It is not for the pupil to resist 
the laws of the school. You have an appeal to 
me, and I may support you, and always will sup- 
port you against tyrannical or unjust inflictions. 
But the remedy is removal not rebellion. I am 
with you in a permission to retire from the ope- 
ration of severe or oppressive laws, but not in re- 
sisting them. We live under a government of 
civil laws, which protect every citizen from op- 
pression. The organization of a school is, under 
those laws, incapable of invading the essential 
rights of the weakest child. This is enough for 
protection. If we abandon that protection and 
allow every child to decide for herself what is 
right, we relinquish our wholesome laws, and 
return to anarchy. When the co-operation of 



DEPORTMENT TOWARDS TEACHERS. 159 

tlie parent, in support of fhe authority exercised 
over youth at school, is withdrawn, our acade- 
mies and colleges will but cherish and mature 
that spirit, which has ever been the sworn enemy 
of liberty, and which indulged, always will march, 
as it ever has marched, through anarchy to des- 
potism. 

A teacher may indeed be oppressive and wrong. 
His conduct may be outrageous and insufferable. 
But a good teacher will never be so. If parents 
will employ drunken or unprincipled masters, 
they must take the consequences, the ruin of their 
children, and the subversion of law. But the 
fault is their own. The evil commences from the 
root, and is inseparable from the character of the 
men whom they patronize, perhaps to gain a 
penny, or to gratify a whim. I reason, however, 
from different premises. I have confidence in 
your teachers. They, of course, are entitled to 
your respect, and secure it. They require obe- 
dience, and have my co-operation in its enforce- 
ment. Under these premises, if the student resist 
authority, the presumption is always against him, 
and it devolves on him to make out his case. 

Let me say to you, ever seek to gain the confi- 
dence and good opinion of your teachers ; not 
by servile compliances, but by a strict and con- 
scientious attention to duty. Avoid servility in 
your bearing towards every one, and never seek 



160 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

a familiarity with your superiors by making your- 
selves useful as tale-bearers. Avoid the cbarac^ 
ter of an informer, and avoid those who sustain 
it. In their zeal to serve their superiors, and 
gain their reward, they usually become liars, and 
mean in every sentiment of the soul. Never he- 
sitate, on the other hand, to tell the truth when 
questioned by proper authority, though it expose 
a friend, though it expose yourselves. Never tell 
a lie, never equivocate, never conceal yourselves 
by unworthy means, nor aid to conceal others 
from the just operation of the law. Do nothing 
"wrong, and, if possible, be privy to nothing 
wrong in others. But when called to give testi- 
mony, tell the truth. Let all understand from 
your known character, that you are not spies upon 
your companions ; and let them know, also, that 
if they commit wrong under your cognizance, you 
are not the wretches that will equivocate and 
wrong yourselves, to save them from merited pun- 
ishment or disgrace. 



FORMATION OF FRIENDSHIPS. 161 



LETTER XXVII. 

FORMATION OF FRIENDSHIPS. 

My dear Children, — The influence exerted 
on the character of youth by the intercourse they 
hold with their companions, and the habits they 
here form, is too important and vital to be disposed 
of in a single paragraph. I wish now to direct 
your attention distinctly to it that you may be 
placed on your guard against insidious evils, and 
derive every advantage from this intercourse, 
which it offers to the mind studious of self- im- 
provement. 

The boarding-school furnishes many advan- 
tages, which are peculiar to its organization, and 
which should be improved by you diligently, 
while the concomitant evils are carefully avoided. 
Such a school is commonly regarded as select, and 
in some respects it is. But the selection is by no 
means in strict and single reference to points, 
which render the selection always best suited to 
your companionship. It unfortunately happens 
that the best family government and the purest 
lessons of morality are not always inculcated in 
14* 



162 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

those families, whicTi are most privileged, and 
among those who are able to select the highest 
schools for the education of their children. Hence, 
you must sometimes encounter bad examples from 
high sources. You may find, even in young 
ladies of parentage highly respectable, maxims 
and views of propriety, examples and habits, 
which you have been taught to avoid ; often a 
disregard of religion, and even sometimes infi- 
del sentiments. The allowed and allowable habits 
of the different classes of society, are sometimes 
found assembled together in the same boarding- 
school, and without reflection and a proper dis- 
crimination, you may greatly err by confounding 
things that should be separated, or by condemning 
in others what is suited to their circumstances, 
although it might be improper and wrong in 
yours. 

The first advice I shall give you, will regard 
the selection of your confidential friends. Let 
them be few and wisely chosen. They are your 
familiar associates, and will necessarily bring into 
your society, and urge on your approbation, all 
their peculiar views, habits and sentiments. In 
the selection of these friends, have a principal 
reference to the qualities of the heart and the head. 
You cannot sweetly commune and walk together, 
unless there be " thought, feeling, taste, harmon- 
ious with your own." With this communion life 



FOUZdiATION OF FRIENDSHIPS. 16? 

is twice enjoyed. We are happy in ourselves, 
and happy in our friends' happiness. 

Having selected your friends, do not feel that 
a real confidence requires you to adopt all their 
habits and opinions^ or to surrender your own 
This is servility. You may have found a friend 
in one, whose circumstances in life are very dif- 
ferent from your own. It is not necessary to all 
the benefits of that friendship that you should 
regulate your habits of life and expenditure by 
hers. These differences are trifling, and should 
be but little thought of. Especially should you 
resist a disposition to conform, where the change 
would require you to increase your expenditure, 
perhaps, beyond your ability, and involve you in 
serious evils. 

When you have deliberately admitted one 
to your friendship, give her your confidence. 
Friendship is otherwise worth nothing, it is no- 
thing. Let that confidence, deliberately extended, 
not be slightly withdrawn. If distrust find a 
place in your feelings, seek an explanation. There 
may be some mistake, an enemy may have sown 
tares, or your friend may be trying your sincer- 
ity. Never withdraw your confidence, once given, 
but on clear evidence that it has been abused. On 
that evidence withdraw it promptly and pro- 
fessedly. 

Never desert your friend because deserted by 



164 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

Others. Then prove your friendship, when she 
is in misfortune. Defend her good name from 
the slander of evil tongues, and let no one, let no 
combination of numbers or of influence, separate 
you from your friends, where no personal derelic- 
tion has forfeited your confidence. Prosperity 
extends the circle of friends ; adversity proves 
the true, and therefore, reduces it to narrow lim- 
its. These only are worthy the name. 

But while you extend your confidence and in- 
timacy to few, let all share your attention and 
complaisance. None are to be neglected and 
avoided, unless crime has shut them out from our 
communion. Even this should not debar them 
from our sympathy. Avoid that exclusive man- 
ner, which prevents a complaisant deportment 
toward all but your particular friends. Eemember 
you were made for society, and a jast regard to 
the rights of others will conciliate the respect and 
good will of all. 

Cherish no enmities. If you have enemies, take 
care not to reciprocate their hatred. It is not 
necessary that you should force your good ofiices 
upon them. Put not yourselves in their power, 
but •' love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, pray for 
them which despitefully use you and persecute 
you." The beautiful and forcible argument, by 
which the Saviour urged the cultivation of this 



FORMATION OF FRIENDSHIPS. 165 

amiable temper, may be found in his Sermon on 
the Mount* "That ye may be," said he, "the chil- 
dren of your Father, who is in heaven ; for he 
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
and sendeth his rain on the just and on the un- 
just." 

The heart, which cherishes these sentiments, 
cannot be easily disturbed by the enmities that 
rankle in other bosoms. Do what is right, and 
you will ever stand on a proud pre-eminence 
above those, who may seek to hurt you. Enter* 
tain no enmities. Wish ill to no one. If others 
indulge these feelings they are the only sufferers. 
They cannot essentially injure you. 

Exercise a forgiving temper. You are not ob- 
liged to embrace your enemies. But if they con- 
fess their wrong forgive them ; yet be cautious 
not to place yourselves in their power. Some- 
times an ingenuous mind may do you an injury. 
When convinced of that, let a suitable reparation 
secure your confidence. 

Seek to discriminate wisely in judging of char- 
acter ; not with affectation — that is the mark of a 
little mind. Experience will soon enable a dili- 
gent observer to distinguish the great outlines of 
character on a slight acquaintance. They are de- 
rived more accurately from the conversation and 
deportment, than from any peculiar conformation 
of the cranium or physiognomy. 



166 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

In tlie large circle of acquaintances made in 
youth at a public school, a foundation may be laid 
for lasting benefits in future life. These hun- 
dreds of young persons, with whom you now asso- 
ciate, are soon to be scattered over a wide extent 
of country. They will form new connections, and 
enter on the duties of mature age in spheres of 
influence and responsibility. The associations 
of early life will often be renewed, and the hold 
you now take on them will remain unbroken by 
time and distance. These early friendships will 
be lasting as life, and not only where intimacies 
have been formed. You make and sustain a char- 
acter in the society of your companions. That 
character stands in their minds just as it exist- 
ed when you were separated at the close of your 
academic course. A great variety of incidents 
may transpire in life to make that character im- 
portant to you. Here you may be laying a foun- 
dation for many years. Let every act be dictated 
under a conviction that you are making a char- 
acter which is to last as long as you live,* which 
is to stand before a wide extent of country, and 
sustain or injure you, to secure you respect, or 
place you in low estimation, before a wide circle 
of society. Those of you who live will soon 
meet each other as ladies in the common, various, 
and high relations of life. What you will desire 
then to be in the estimation of others, you now 
have an opportunity to make yourselves. 



FORMATION OF FRIENDSHIPS. 167 

It is the lamentable mistake of many that they 
suppose one set of rules is to regulate propriety 
of manners, and even morality of action among 
youth, and another and severer rule to apply to 
mature age. Mature age is the childhood of our 
true existence, as early life is the childhood of 
riper years. Over all is spread the same universal 
rule of moral right, the same government of God. 
To him we are amenable from the infancy of our 
being, and shall be compelled to answer to that 
law, which requires truth in the inward parts, 
and holiness. 

The intercourse of youth, then, to be truly pro- 
fitable, must be religious, regulated by the same 
laws which govern the universe of intelligent 
beings, unvaried in their nature, and strict in 
their application. 

Always prefer those for your intimate compan- 
ionship, who give evidence that they are influ- 
enced by religious principle. True piety is not 
absolutely necessary to form an agreeable com- 
panion, or a true friend ; yet personal religion, 
wherever it exists, establishes and regulates the 
moral integrity, and is the only sure safeguard of 
virtue. The crowning excellence of a friend 
then must be the principle of religion in the 
heart. 

Finally, never seek by servile compliancea 
either to gain a friend or conciliate an enemy. 



168 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. - 

Feel and do wliat is right. Seek first your own 
approbation, the approbation of an enlightened 
conscience, and never forget that to preserve your 
own self-respect you must incur the displeasure 
of some others. If you lose the approbation of 
others in the discharge of duty, you will gain 
more than you lose. "If ye suffer for right' 
eousness' sake, blessed are ye"— says divine inspi- 
ration. There is the blessing, in suffering for 
doing that which is right. The friends you gain 
by this course, hold in high estimation. All 
others you can better spare than retain. 



THE VIRTUE OF ECONOMY. 169 



LETTER XXVIII. 

THE VIRTUE OF ECONOMY. 

My dear Children, — The expenses of youth, in 
a course of education are necessarily great, and, 
in most cases, impose a material burthen upon 
parents, especially if there are several to be edu- 
cated in the same family. A dutiful and thought- 
ful child will not be inconsiderate on this subject. 

It must be confessed that the young are not 
alone to blame for the extravagant habits into 
which our youth of both sexes are rapidly plung- 
ing, and which are calculated, in all their protrac- 
ted consequences, to prejudice, in every important 
respect, the cause of education. Parents, in these 
defaults, are often more guilty than their children. 
Means of luxury and dissipation are often fur- 
nished for the vain parade of wealth. To show 
off above others has been the cherished pride of 
the parent, and is inculcated by example, and 
every facility furnished to their heirs apparent. 
To say nothing of the general evil of such an 
example, an evil which makes their wealth a curse 
to the community, it becomes, in this way, a curse 



170 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

to themselves, corrupting the foTintains of moral, 
as well as animal life, and usually wastes tlie 
largest estates in the course of two or three gen- 
erations. It is from causes of this kind, more 
than any other, that property is continually 
changing hands, and revolutions are going on, 
which reduce the rich to poverty, and raise the 
provident poor to wealth. 

The evils of these habits indulged are manifold 
and most pernicious. Once contracted, they are 
not easily abandoned. They must be fed at a 
great and increasing expense. If, as is sometimes 
■ the case, the parent is not ruined in his pecuniary 
fortune by the education of his children, a foun- 
dation is laid for that ruin to follow rapidly after 
his death. 

The example thus set by those who are able to 
support their extravagance is contagious. Others 
less able ape the pernicious practice, and incalcu- 
lable evils follow. 

Then, there is the influence exerted on the 
health and moral principle of the youth at the 
time. An indulgence in luxury or dissipation 
saps the foundation of health. Extravagance in 
dress and personal decorations, in fashion and 
public display, cherishes a frivolous and giddy 
turn of mind, to the exclusion of all sober and 
profitable thought. There is no room left for se- 
rious reflection, or the close application of tha 



THE VIRTUE OF ECONOMY. 171 

rules of duty ; religion is rejected as an intruder, 
and moral principle cannot abide tlie issue. 

The influence on the great objects of education 
is blighting and fatal. The attention is diverted 
from its appropriate objects. Study is neglected. 
Intellectual attainment is out of the question, and 
the scholar is lost in the fashionable young lady. 
She admires herself, is perhaps admired by a few 
others, has her day and dies. 

Besides the immediate defeat of the great objects 
of education, which is thus suffered, the lasting 
effect on mental discipline prepares for more last- 
ing evils, disappointment and chagrin. I have 
seen this disappointment paint the image of a 
mortified spirit on the countenance of the gay 
young lady, even before she has left the boarding 
school, or finished her education. All her expe- 
dients for multiplying and giving effect to her at- 
tractions are artificial. They sometimes fail, and 
the effect is, with every repetition, diminished. 
On the other hand, the permanent and unadorned 
excellences of thought, and of the countenance 
speaking those thoughts in its simple, natural, and 
eloquent expressions, are constantly improving 
with an educated intellect. While the former, 
therefore, is wasting and waning, the latter glows 
with a purer light, and burns with a brighter 
flame. The attractions of dress and fashion lose 
their power, while the bright sun of intellect and 



172 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

sparkling wit hold the attention and gain perma- 
nent approbation. Mind gives the principal 
beauty to the human form above other animals. 
By this crowning glory, it excels even the beauty 
of the peacock or the glow-worm ; it surpasses 
the marble statue, and mocks the skill of the 
painter's pencil. So the human countenance, an- 
imated and expressing the glory of an enlightened 
intellect, is adduced as one of the most striking, 
if not the best specimen of beauty, that is to be 
found in the whole range of nature or art. 

But the face of an idiot fails to reach this stan- 
dard of pre-eminence. And next to this, is the 
simpering, senseless, conceited, self applauding ex- 
pression of a young lady, who has been flattered 
into the belief that she is a beauty, and who has 
thrown aside her books, and relinquished the labour 
of thought, for the toilet, and circles of fashion. 
My daughters, remember your minds are your es- 
tates. Education, like the diligent hand of culti- 
vation, gives them permanent value, encloses, pro- 
tects, and makes them fruitful. "With this capital, 
well and diligently preserved from waste or decay, 
you may always be independent, and will soon 
surpass, in everything which can contribute to 
your peace and happiness, many who may now 
excel you in the contingent circumstances of for- 
tune or personal attractions. In all circumstances, 
economy is a virtue; and no present elevation 



THE VIRTUE OF ECONOMY. 173 

above want can secure us against the contingency 
of misfortune and poverty. Hence the habit of 
economy is always liable to be called into requi- 
sition, especially in a lady, whose means of re- 
pairing losses are more limited, and exposures to 
attendant evils greater than those of the other sex. 
Every young lady ought, therefore, to practise 
economy as a duty, if not from necessity, or under 
parental injunction. 

He who limits his desires or annihilates a want, 
increases his riches more effectually than he who 
adds any amount of dollars and cents to his actual 
possessions. Our desires increase with our riches, 
but where want is extinguished wealth is virtually 
attained. The latter may be done in advance, 
under a well regulated and severe habit, but will 
hardly avail as a remedy for unsuccessful ambi- 
tion. Modest pretensions can sustain unexpected 
promotion better than vaulting ambition can take 
the garb of humility and live contentedly on slen- 
der means. Habits of extravagance, once formed, 
present the strongest temptations to unlawful and 
sinful expedients to gratify those habits. 

Our actual wants are really very limited and 
easily supplied. This may be readily shown by 
a reference to the peasantry of many other coun- 
tries, and the slaves of our own. In the last ex- 
ample, their simple fare, while it evidently fur- 
nishes ample nutriment to fit them for ordinary 
15* 



174 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

labour, secures to tliem far better bealtli than is 
enjoyed by their masters and others who live more 
luxuriously, and pay the price in physicians' bills, 
or disease and death. 

Learn, then, to limit your expenses to your ac- 
tual wants. This rule will always sufBiciently 
swell the bills of a young lady at school, while 
the strict application of it will form a most valu- 
able part of her education. Were I to seek for a 
practical lesson on this important subject, to direct 
your habits, I would refer to your recollections of 
your dear mother, whose personal expenses were 
ever as restricted as her personal appearance was 
always neat and appropriate. May you imitate 
her virtues in this as in every other department of 
duty. 



PEEMANENCY OF EARLY PRINCIPLES. 175 



LETTER XXIX. 

PERMANENCY OF EARLY PRINCIPLES. 

My dear Children, — In the sports of 
cliildren the seeds are sown whose, fruits we reap 
in manhood. Every action is a starting point, 
that gives to the mind a direction, which may 
never be interrupted until eternity shall close in 
upon time, and its retributions shall be unalter- 
ably awarded. All, therefore, which is unworthy 
of manhood, is dangerous in youth, and the more 
dangerous because everything pertaining to char- 
acter is then in a forming state. 

Let these thoughts influence you in all your in- 
tercourse with your companions. There are no 
principles, that will ever belong to your inter- 
course with society which do not, with some mod- 
ifications, belong to the social intercourse of youth 
at school. The affections you cherish, or the 
passions you indulge, will have a powerful influ- 
ence to form your character to gentleness and 
truth, or to falsehood and crime. And where, 
more than in the intercourse of youth in a course 
of education, are exciting causes furnished to awa- 



176 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

ken the natnral sensibilities of tlie heart ? Here, 
then, " in the beginning of onr way," sentinels 
should be posted, who may be always awake, lest 
a single misstep should change the whole direc- 
tion of onr being. We are here placed as at a 
central point. A thousand diverging lines lead 
to wide extremes, which grow wider still as we 
advance. A breath may, at the starting point, 
change our direction for eternity. But when set- 
tled and advanced in our course, a serious error 
may be more easily retrieved, and its consequences 

averted. 

Think not, therefore, that because you are 
young, the terms, on which you live with your 
companions, are of little consequence ; that you 
may indulge in fretfulness or ill humour, that you 
may cherish a pride of superiority, vain ambition, 
jealousy, envy, crimination, or revenge, and not 
have their spirit incorporated with your character. 
Cherish these feelings now, and they will establish 
a dominion over you, which your more deliberate 
decisions and self-reproach will not enable you 
successfally to war against in riper years. 

Awakened attention to study is very apt to 
degenerate into unholy ambition. The effort, 
which is excited by the mere desire to surpass a 
rival, will be always attended with numerous and 
deep sources of irritation and pain, for the mis- 
eries of which, no success can compensate. The 



PEEMANENCY OF EAELY PEINCIPLES. 177 

only remedy or preventive to sucli evils is the 
habit of prosecuting study, as every other em- 
ployment, under a sense of duty. This may be a 
permanent principle, equable and efficient in its 
action, while ambition finds its impulse to exer- 
tion only in the presence of a rival, and is gra- 
tified only by his inferiority or downfall. It is 
not easy to determine, which is most fatal to true 
peace of mind, the exultation of triumph, or the 
chagrin of defeat. Both are blasting to every 
pious and holy affection of the soul. 

So far as intellectual capacity is considered, a 
mediocrity of talent with good health, is the 
greatest blessing. With these endowments of na- 
ture, literary eminence is the sure result of studi- 
ous habits. Genius, like personal beauty, is 
almost certainly a calamity. It excites admira- 
tion, and elicits applause. This soon begets in 
the mind a vain self-conceit of superiority. The 
mind, accustomed to praise, soon comes to a vi- 
tiated desire for it, which nothing else can sat- 
isfy. Like the sensual appetites, every indulgence 
blunts the sensibility, and makes it necessary to 
increase the dose. Often, too, the inspirations of 
genius are relied on instead of laborious study. 
While, therefore, more applause is constantly de- 
manded, the excellence, which commands it, is 
diminished in the mind given to indolence and 
inflated by flattery ; and the diligent student of 



178 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

ordinary genius soon surpasses the prodigy, whose 
youth is spent in self-admiration, and in listening 
to the indiscreet and often silly praises of thought- 
less friends. 

The mind, which gains its maturity only with 
manhood, is strengthened and rectified by an ex- 
perienced acquaintance with real life, and learns, 
before they are felt, to estimate the rewards of 
praise according to their true value. The envy 
which may be awakened in the contemporaries of 
our early years, and which always embitters pre- 
cocious honours, is dead or toothless before the 
title to those honours has been established by the 
service and trial of age, or when the subject of 
them stands almost alone among the survivors of 
his own generation. Although this view may 
present to your young minds a cheerless prospect 
in the distinctions of life, age and experience pro- 
nounce it the only prospect which can be cher- 
ished with truth. It is a most rich reward to an 
anxious and devoted parent, to see his children 
excel in their studies and labours. But I would 
much rather see you fail of the first honours in 
all that pertains to the distinctions of this life, 
than to see you subjected to the attendant temp- 
tations. Petrarch, an Italian of the fourteenth 
century, was crowned early in life with the po- 
etic laurel. In future years, he wrote in view of 
the event thus: "These laurels, which encircled 



PERMANENCY OF EARLY PRINCIPLES. 179 

my head were too green. Had I been of riper 
age and understanding, I should not have sought 
them. Old men love only what is useful. Young 
men run after appearances without regard to their 
end. This crown rendered me neither more wise 
nor eloquent. It only served to raise envy, and 
deprive me of the repose I enjoyed. From that 
time, tongues and pens were sharpened against 
me ; my friends became my enemies, and I suf- 
fered the just effects of my confidence and pre- 
sumption." 

The only value of eminence and success lies in 
the superior service, which we are thereby ena- 
bled to render to the great caase of truth and 
righteousness. The good that he does is itself 
the reward of the good man, whether his name is 
known and recognized in connection with the 
deed or not. The feeling, which finds its gratifi- 
cation only in the advancement of personal fame, 
is unholy, and is destined to the final disappoint- 
ment, which, under the divine government, in- 
fallibly awaits and will arrest the unhallowed 
spirit of selfish ambition. May you learn to 
award liberally your approbation to the service 
of others, and to esteem your own acquirements, 
pretensions, and merits, with that modest reserve, 
which will always leave it to others to say to you, 
" Come up higher." 

I believe you will not mistake me in these re- 



180 DAUGHTEBS AT SCHOOL. 

marks. It is my desire that you should acquit 
yourselves well, and it is proper that you should 
be stimulated by a desire to please your parent 
and merit the approbation of all the good. But 
a simple desire for applause is a very foolish and 
a very dangerous one. The person who cherishes 
it deeply, will soon find himself seeking it by un- 
worthy means. It is the fruitful source of envy 
towards others, vain pride in one's own attain- 
ments, a foolish egotism, and many other hurtful 
and disgraceful feelings. 

Do you ask, from what motive you should 
strive to excel ? Go to the Bible for the answer. 
Go to the death-bed — go to the grave — go to the re- 
wards of eternity. There find the answer. Je- 
hovah says, " Them that honour me, I will hon- 
our ; and they that despise me shall be lightly 
esteemed." Find all your incentives to virtuous 
action in your relations to God and to eternity. 
Then, your aims will be high and ennobling. God 
will approve them, and return your efforts upon 
you with blessing. Then, if others excel, even 
if they are your rivals, you will not suffer your 
bosoms to burn with envy towards them. You 
will feel a pleasure at their prosperity, although 
your highest aims for yourselves may not be at- 
tained. If your efforts enable you to excel, you 
will not be puffed up with vanity at your super- 
iority, but will be thankful to God for your sue- 



PEEMANENCY OF EARLY PRINCIPLES. 181 

cess. Modest and condescending, you will not 
be led to think or speak often of yourselves in 
those comparisons, which make others appear to 
disadvantage, and which show a vain conceit of 
your own abilities and acquirements. This is the 
most disgusting egotism, and is the stamp of a 
little mind. It always forfeits to its possessor the 
little merit he may have in the esteem of others, 
and subjects him to ridicule or contempt. 

Let the truth be deeply impressed on your 
minds that how much soever you may attain of 
knowledge, you can know but little compared 
with what remains to be known, or when com- 
pared with the great Author of mind and know- 
ledge. Consider also, that all human learning is 
very much limited to objects, which are them- 
selves transient and perishing. Consider that the 
only knowledge finally profitable is the "know- 
ledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ, 
whom he has sent." It is characteristic of this 
knowledge to teach its possessors humility, and 
to make them the more modest in their pretensions 
the higher they advance. May this be your 
crowning virtue and true understanding. 
16 



182 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XXX. 

SIMPLICITY OF CHAEACTER. 

My dear Children, — Simplicity of character, 
as opposed to artifice and dissimulation, is essen- 
tial to our own deliberate self-approval, or the re- 
spect of others. We are fitted, by the great 
Author of our being, to act in a particular sphere, 
and are adapted to the regular and efiicient dis- 
charge of duty there. Each has his peculiar cha- 
racteristics, which he must learn, and so direct, 
that he may fulfil the duties they involve, and act 
well his part. In the just administration of God, 
we are required to give and do according to what 
we have and are. To know ourselves, and to act 
in the sphere assigned us by divine providence, is 
to do our duty and find its rewards. 

Opposed to this simple purpose and pursuit is a 
deep laid disposition in every heart to play the 
hypocrite, to appear to be what we are not. 
It is developed in the earliest actions of childhood, 
and the reflecting mind has to combat its vigor- 
ous growth and struggles in riper years. Those 
who are insensible of its presence, who have never 



SIMPLICITY OF CHAKACTER. ISS 

met in tlie war of self-conquest, are under its do- 
minion still, unperceived only because the mind's 
subjection is complete. 

Avoid the employment of artifice to make 
yourselves appear to others what you are not. 
This rule, which applies to those silly and wicked 
devices used by many to improve their form and 
person, it is my particular purpose, now, to apply 
to graver matters. Some attempt to appear more 
talented than nature has formed them, or more 
learned than their industry has made them. This 
affectation leads not only to folly but to sin. 
Often, a mind thus cultivated will be led to lite- 
rary plagiarism to cover its ignorance or flatter its 
pride. Here is the sin of theft. The person who 
appropriates the literary labours of another as his 
own is a thief, as much as if he stole his neigh- 
bour's grain, or any other product of his labour. 
Then he is guilty of falsehood, by assuming pub- 
licly to have done what he never did. Not the 
least evil, however, is the self-deception and vanity 
which is thus cherished. The person who at- 
tempts to deceive others must first deceive him- 
self. He must shut his eyes against a considera- 
tion of his own baseness, and first persuade him- 
self that he is what he is not, an honest man. As 
he will not permit himself to suspect his own ve- 
racity, he will not allow others to impeach it, and 
will become testy in precise proportion to his de- 



184 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

fault. As lie affects to be learned, nothing will 
mortify his pride so much as to see his claims 
underrated. As he affects to respect himself, he 
will be deeply wounded by any want of respect 
towards him on the part of others. This, in the 
literary world, is an artificial man. Such may 
be found in every department, and of both sexes. 

Whatever we hide of our deformities, or mag- 
nify of our actual attainments, will subtract dou- 
ble from our real merits when the deception is 
detected. You never extend your confidence to 
one who has once deceived you. You cannot do 
it. You may try, but it is impossible. On the 
other hand, honesty necessarily inspires confidence. 
You cannot withhold it. There may be few qua- 
lities to command admiration, or suited for various 
and difficult service — but an honest man com- 
mands confidence. Nature asserts his right in 
every heart, and he cannot be robbed of it until 
you misrepresent him. 

Artifice and dissimulation are destined to final 
exposure and disgrace. Not to refer to that day 
when every action, every idle word, and every 
secret thought shall come into final judgment, the 
retribution of these shallow vices is usually award- 
ed and suffered in this life. The precise and 
statue-like rouge, which gives its colour to a 
wrinkled cheek, is detected by its silence. It 
does not come and go like the blushes of nature, 



SIMPLICITY OF CHARACTEE. 185 

following and answering to the emotions of a 
living soul. The halting step of age betrays the 
antiquary who would take refuge under a dress 
and fashions that belong to a later century. And 
the ignoramus in literature, who has shone in bor- 
rowed wit, is unmasked the moment his fictitious 
reputation calls him to a service where there are 
no spoils furnished to his hand. But you cannot 
disgrace an honest man. He brightens with every 
disclosure. To dishonour, you must misrepresent 
him, and this cannot avail to his permanent dis- 
grace. Call him ignorant ; — he speaks, and de- 
molishes your argument. And, true to the senti- 
ment of the poet, we invariably prove that " beauty 
when unadorned, is adorned the most." 

Artifice and dissimulation properly involve, to 
some extent, the character and guilt of falseness, be- 
cause they present us in a false aspect, different from 
what we really are. The consequences are some- 
times serious and important, and render the guilt 
of the crime enormous. Yet it is to be consid- 
ered that true ingenuousness does not always re- 
quire us to declare ourselves on every subject. 
We are often excited to strong emotions, which it 
may be our duty to suppress. Sometimes their 
suppression is necessary to the formation of a de- 
liberate judgment; sometimes, that we may not 
throw ourselves into the power of our enemy ; 

sometimes to the maintenance of a suitable influ- 
16* 



186 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

ence over a friend. " Even tlie truth may not be 
spoken at all times." Not that we may tell a 
a falsehood in place of it, but real ingenuousness 
sometimes is consistent with silence. I have 
now in my mind the case of a gentleman who re- 
ported the personal remarks of one friend to an- 
other. It led to the evils of a duel. The re- 
porter was greatly and justly blamed. It is not 
necessary that all which is true should be repeated 
at all times, and on common occasions. The most 
serious and disturbing evils often arise from that 
kind of frankness which will hold nothing but in 
common with a mixed and ever changing pub- 
lic. 



PEUDENCE. 187 



LETTER XXXI. 

PRUDENCE. 

My dear Children, — Let Prudence be known 
in your vocabulary. Place it in the catalogue of 
your virtues, at the head of a chapter in your 
moral lessons. It is opposed to hasty and rash 
decision in enterprise, to obstinacy in pursuit, and 
to a reckless disrega,rd of consequences. 

" The only secret I have found," said Petrarch, " to 
prevent the evils of life, is to do nothing without 
having examined, beforehand, in what we are go- 
ing to embark. In most things we undertake, the 
beginnings are agreeable. They seduce us. But 
we should think of the end. They are paths 
strewed with flowers. Where these paths lead 
to is the most important question." 

Never are these sentiments more appropriate or 
more important than in application to the early 
period of life, when we are commencing in every- 
thing, and when our first choice is to give direc- 
tion to a whole life, to an eternal life. Never will 
they come to your minds as appropriate instruc- 
tion to make you wise so much as at the present 



188 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

moment, wlien you are young, and the paths of 
active life are yet untrodden. 

Prudence teaches us to examine deliberately 
and well every enterprise, to which we are invited. 
She calls us into the field of thoughtfulness, of 
retirement, of meditation. She takes us away 
from the peculiarities, with which the subject may 
be attended, the false glosses and false forms, in 
which it may be presented in connection with the 
misrepresentations of interest or the recommenda- 
tions of a public opinion, perhaps capriciously 
formed and capriciously changing. She invites 
us to think for ourselves, and form an indepen- 
dent judgment. She inquires how the highest 
law, the law of God, applies to the subject. She 
sets us down to the study of the Bible, and 
will allow us to make no important decision on 
any subject without asking counsel of God, and 
seeking at a throne of grace for that "wisdom 
which is from above, which is first pure, then 
peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of 
mercy and good fruits, without partiality and with- 
out hypocrisy." 

Prudence will also lead us to review our deci- 
sions. If it teaches to guard against a ready ad- 
mission of seeming difficulties in the prosecution 
of an object deliberately undertaken, it is, on the 
other hand, equally opposed to that inveterate 
obstinacy, which will admit no light that did not 



PRUDENCE. 189 

come at first. This is, as if we should refuse to 
consider, by the broad light of day, the dangers 
which were disregarded, because unseen, when we 
commenced our journey at midnight. Such ad- 
venturous spirits may be carried successfully 
through, but they will be very likely to be dashed 
over fatal precipices. Never to modify or even, 
change our action in obedience to circumstances, 
is as wide from the dictates of true wisdom as to 
abandon ourselves to the changing advice and ca- 
price of all we meet. A prudent man will often 
review his opinions. Sometimes the wisest prove 
themselves to have commenced in error. Their 
wisdom, then, shows itself in change of opinion, 
and of action. " To err is human " — to correct an 
error is the part of wisdom — " to forgive divine." 
Prudence will lead us to a constant regard to 
consequences. The important truth has been 
often much perverted — " that duty belongs to us, 
consequences to God." Tell me what duty is, and 
I adopt the maxim — no matter what comes, self- 
indulgence or the stake, a crown or the cross. 
But our duty is often decided by the consequences 
of what we do, and therefore in most questions 
of duty, consequences are to be regarded, and to 
have their influence. If I am required to deny 
my Lord, my duty is plain, and I discharge it re- 
gardless of consequences, though it kindle upon 
me the fires of persecution, though it bind me to 



190 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

the stake, and consign me to death, and involve 
my murderers in damning guilt — '*' Duty belongs 
to me, consequences to God." 

But suppose the question of duty relates to the 
reformation of my neighbour, and after I have 
faithfully reproved him, he remains impenitent 
and grows worse, and all my attempts to reform 
him, excite his passions, awaken and embitter old 
enmities, and involve his innocent family in great- 
er evils — must I proceed ? I say, not without re- 
gard to consequences. These consequences belong 
to me, and are a part of the grounds on which I 
am to decide my duty. True, I read in the great 
book of law — " Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy 
neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." But I 
have rebuked him; and I also read — "Cast not 
your pearls before swine, lest they trample them 
under their feet, and turn again and rend you." 
That is, have a suitable regard to consequences. 
Again I find divine counsel teaches us to be " wise 
as serpents, and harmless as doves." That is, act 
with caution as well as decision — he prudent. 

When, therefore, I have discharged one part of 
my duty, by administering wholesome reproof to 
my neighbour, and by an attempt unsuccessfully 
made, to reclaim him, my next duty under the 
circumstances of the case, may be, to let him 
alone. So God sometimes does with sinners. 
But what he does in their final abandonment, it 



PEUDENCE. 191 

may be my duty to do in an untiring attempt to 
reform tliem. I may have become peculiarly ob- 
noxious to my neighbour, either by my indiscre- 
tion or faithfulness. A spirit of jealousy may 
have taken possession of his bosom, so that he at- 
tributes, right or wrong, everything I do to a bad 
motive, to personal resentment, and hence my re- 
proofs can do him no good, are even worse than 
useless. Perhaps there dwells by him, or in his 
own house, one to whom the duty to instruct and 
reprove him can with safety be committed, and to 
whom under the circumstances, it belongs. It 
may then be my duty to desist from doing the 
very thing, which before, it was my duty to do — 
and all this in regard to consequences. While, 
therefore, I would have you to be bold, and un- 
compromising in duty, I would have you pru- 
dently attentive to the circumstances, under which 
you act, and to the consequences, which will re- 
sult from your action. Sometimes the most ef- 
fectual reproof we can give to a captious sinner is to 
show him the difference between his life and ours, 
and to show our abhorrence of his sin by a refu- 
sal to participate in it. Sometimes even reproof of 
sin is made to appear unkind and bitter by the pecu- 
liar manner in which it is expressed, and the form 
in which it is repeated. Seek always to adminis- 
ter reproof so that the subject of it may find no 
ground to suspect it proceeds from personal un 
kindness or ill will. 



192 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

Then you will not lose the respect of him whom 
you seek to reform, though you may fail to re- 
claim him. 

That prudence which is so necessary in deciding 
our conduct toward others, in all our great efforts 
of benevolence, should also give character to all 
our conversation, and chasten all our intercourse 
with society. The maxims, which should regulate 
the entire deportment of a lady, especially a 
young lady, are those which the scriptures teach, 
where your sex is raised from a condition of mere 
subjection, and restored at once to the blessings 
of liberty and law. " Abstain from all appearance 
of evil," is a practical rule of universal applica- 
tion, and will ever present those who apply it, to 
the concurrent approbation and love of all. It 
will make you scrupulously attentive to all the 
decencies of life, and all the forms of society, so 
far as they involve proprieties, or are unattended 
with sin or temptation. It will adorn you with a 
"meek and quiet spirit," — keep you at home — 
make you attentive to your own business — not 
"busy-bodies," nor "backbiters" — and in every 
relation you sustain, or may be called to sustain 
in life, the precious gospel, if you imbibe its spirit 
and follow its rules, will make you blessed and a 
blessing to others. 

In your intercourse with mixed society, you 
will have occasion to cultivate that entire frame 
of mind and deportment, which are expressed by 



PRUDENCE. 193 

the term prudence. An imprudent lady can never 
be respected. Her influence is bad, and although 
the extent of her offence may be in the " appear- 
ance of evil," she will soon be taught by her re- 
ception in society that she has " trifled with a 
serious thing." 

Nothing but a habit of reflection and forecast 
can throw around your character and happiness 
the best safeguards- I repeat then, avoid rash de- 
cisions ; review them often ; and consider well 
the consequences of what you do. It is indeed 
true, that " in most things we undertake, the be- 
ginnings are agreeable." They have, at least, the 
charm of novelty. " Where these paths lead to is 
the most important question." 

I should be glad to furnish you with a striking 
illustration of what I mean by the trait of char- 
acter so important in all, so vitally important in 
a female, and which I have now- attempted to 
commend to your special consideration. Perhaps 
I cannot do it better than by stating a fact, which 
lately came under my own observation. A young 
lady of my acquaintance was addressed by a gen- 
tleman, then almost an entire stranger to her, but 
who was thought by all who knew him well de- 
serving her hand. A mutual friend to them both 
said to him. You must not expect from her a hasty 
answer, for she is a prudent young lady. And so 
it proved. She considered the matter well, and 
W^s thqrebj enabled, I doubt not, to decide wisely. 



194: DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XXXII. 

INDEPENDENCE OF CHARACTER. 

My dear Children, — Independence of char- 
acter pertains to us in tlie relations we sustain to 
society. It is particularly worthy of your con- 
sideration, that you may be guarded from error in 
the cultivation of it, and form your habits on 
principles which I pray may give in you stability 
to a character wisely framed and divinely ap- 
proved. 

Strictly speaking, independence can be predi- 
cated of God only. All other beings are depen- 
dent on him for life at first, for its preservation, 
and all its blessings. No man is absolutely in- 
dependent, even of his fellow men. If the slave 
is dependent on his master for counsel, direction, 
food, raiment, and protection, the master is also, 
in some sense, dependent on the slave for the 
physical force necessary to the production, with 
the divine blessing, of his temporal comforts and 
means of happiness. The rich man is dependent 
on the mechanic for many of the common con- 
veniences of life ; on the artist for his refined 



INDEPENDENCE OF CHAEACTER. 195 

pleasures of taste ; on the butcher for his meat ; 
the confectioner or gardener for his luxuries ; on 
his cooks, not only for his relishes and well pro- 
vided varieties of food, but for his daily bread. 

There is much affectation of an independence, 
which does not and cannot pertain to man. Can 
wealth secure it ? Let the proud pretension be 
asserted by the man who thinks so, and it is in the 
power of his shoe-black or washer-woman to prove 
its falseness. His tailor or barber can render him ri- 
diculous. He cannot attend a pleasure party with- 
out being dependent on some dozen persons of dif- 
ferent trades and professions for a happy entertain- 
ment. He cannot go before the public happily 
and advantageously, independent of several per- 
sons necessary to provide for, and administer to 
him. Let him not say he is rich, and therefore 
independent. Let him but fail to conciliate his 
lackeys ; let him assert his absolute independence, 
and incur the enmity of the meanest servant in 
his train, or the humblest man that administers 
to his pleasures, and he will easily see that it is 
entirely in the power of that man to make him 
miserable ; that the labours of that man are ne- 
cessary to his happiness. He is dependent, in some 
sense, on all who are dependent on him. 

When the mutual relations of different classes 
are properly understood and felt, all will be led to 
respect or treat all others in their respective sta- 



196 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

tions according to their proper claims, and tlie 
order of Providence will then be found to secure 
the happiness of the whole. Ko one may be de- 
spised on account of his station, if it be an hon- 
est calling. If it be not honest, the man himself 
is guilty who will encourage or patronize him 
in it. 

A proper sense of our mutual dependence is 
necessary to that mutual respect, deference, or 
treatment which will secure the highest happiness 
even of the most privileged, and secure the best 
good of society in the preservation of that order 
which is " heaven's first law." 

The necessary dependence of every man is not 
limited to those things for which, although neces- 
sary to him, the rich man pays an equivalent. 
Every one is liable to need favours, and often ob-, 
liged to receive them, for which no payment can 
properly be made, because they are priceless. 
Friendship cannot be bought. Sympathy in af- 
fliction — can gold gain that ? Yet who may not 
need it, when wealth, in its greatest extent, sinks 
to airy nothing ? The hand that wipes the tear 
which betrays the agony of a wounded spirit is 
insulted, mocked by the sordid wretch who should 
offer to wipe off his obligation by purchase money. 
There is something more — far more valuable than, 
wealth. A friend is that treasure, — one who will 
prove faithful in adversity. There are acquisi- 



INDEPENDENCE OF CHARACTER. 197 

tions whicli are sometimes seen to elevate the 
menial far above his lord — it is a just sense of 
what is due to himself and to all others, and a 
faithful discharge, on his part, of those offices 
which belong to him, while he is treated, in re- 
turn, with contumely and contempt. I would 
much rather be such a menial than such a master. 
In the wise retributions of the moral government 
we live in, the scales will be turned. That 
princely soul shall be exalted, though now a me- 
nial ; and that mean spirit will be humbled, 
though now a prince. 

Never scorn to receive a favour, nor be reluc- 
tant to confer one. There is no disgrace in the 
one, nor merit in the other. In giving, if we are 
able to do it, we are the almoners of divine 
bounty, and but imitate our great Master. In re- 
ceiving, we but incur new obligations to the Giver 
of every good gift, of which our benefactor is 
made the privileged instrument. It is therefore 
declared to be " more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive" — and hence the giver is really under the 
greatest obligations. The proper feelings which 
belong to the benefactor and the beneficiary are 
often mistaken, and those duties which are due 
only to God, are claimed by his agent in a work 
of charity, where he has the greater privilege of 
the two. 

Let it not be contended, however, that the im- 
17* 



198 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

mediate benefactor has no special claims to grat- 
itude and love. He appears in God's stead as 
God's agent, and while the blessings he brings, 
evidence a present God, and draw forth our grat- 
itude to the great Author, man appears an hum- 
ble imitator of the great Benefactor, when he 
scatters blessings with a liberal hand. We love 
him for his likeness to his Master, and in contrast 
with the miser. We are made alive to his worth 
by the personal evidences we have felt of his be- 
nevolence. We, therefore, love and are grateful 
to our benefactor. 

What then, 'it may be asked, is personal inde- 
pendence, and how far should it be sought ? 
When applied to any other being than God, it is 
a relative term. All are dependent. Some are 
only less dependent than others. 

We should always seek to be as little depen- 
dent as possible on others for everything necessary 
to our life and comfort. That is, we should pro- 
vide for our own wants. At the same time we 
ought never to feel above the acceptance of a fa- 
vour. We should be as willing to incur as we 
are ready to impose obligations. These mutual 
offices, when restricted to our real wants, serve to 
bind more closely the ties of friendship and mu- 
tual confidence; and hence the warmest friend- 
ships are usually found among the poor or middle 
classes, where these forms are most often recipro- 
cated. 



INDEPENDENCE OF CHAKACTEE. 199 

True independence is removed from contempt 
of others on one hand, and servile compliances 
on the other. It will never suffer the pride of 
superiority to despise or impose on the poor, nor 
a sense of obligation for a favour to lead us to a 
mean compliance. The moment the benefactor 
requires or asks a favour to be returned by a 
mean device, or a wrong act, he has more than 
cancelled the obligation, — he is himself the debtor; 
and the beneficiary, if he possess the true spirit 
of independence, will assert and maintain his own 
superiority. 

A proper and commendable spirit of independ- 
ence is necessary to divest us of the influence of 
men and circumstances, in forming our opinions. 
Here the merits of the subject alone should finally 
influence us. The decision of one in whom we 
have confidence may serve to incline us to his 
opinion or confirm us in our own, but should 
never be adopted as ours, simply because it is his. 
This remark applies, with particular propriety, 
to religious subjects. Here, the best qualification 
for a judge is singleness of heart and purpose. 
Mere learning and talents bring but little aid. 
The pride they cherish often obscures the mental 
vision, and embarrasses the judgment. The prin- 
cipal bar to a right decisioa on moral subjects 
is found in the state of the affections. When 
they are right, divine truth and duty are plain 



200 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

even to "tlie way -faring man." In all other 
cases they are hidden, even from the " wise and 
prudent." 

We may be said to be independent so far as we 
can rely on our own resources for our special ex- 
igencies as well as for the supply of ordinary 
wants. This kind of independence is diligently 
to be sought. Without it to some extent there 
can be no fixed character, and our happiness will 
be placed very much at the disposal of others. 
How easily we learn to despise the person who 
cannot give an opinion on any subject until he 
has heard the opinions of others ! Our respect 
and deference are reserved to the man who gives 
his own opinion with the reason of it. We can 
ask a favour with confidence and self-respect 
where it is a reciprocation of good ofiices, or of 
rare occurrence ; but the man who goes frequently 
to his neighbour for that which his own industry 
ought to provide, will soon make his request in a 
servile manner, self-condemned, and under a wea- 
risome sense of his own degradation. 

In cherishing a spirit of independence, which I 
have earnestly recomracDded to you, some have 
degenerated into a disregard of the proprieties of 
life, and to a contempt of law. We can never be 
so independent of others as not to be seriously 
affected by public opinion, whose frown can 
be sustained only by a well founded self-approba- 



INDEPENDENCE OF CHAEACTER. 201 

tion, an approving conscience. Then only are 
we independent of the caprice of public opin- 
ion, when we are deliberately sustained by our 
own approbation. This is the only state of 
mind, which can lead us to that elevated course 
of action, which will be effective, and secure 
the eventual approbation of the public mind, some- 
times slow in its action, but finally just in its 
awards. 

"VVe never can be, and ought never to desire to 
be, independent of law, whether the law of God 
or of man. The laws of God are always good, 
and are ever competent to correct our own erring 
judgment on every subject. Human laws, made 
for a common weal, are to be regarded so long as 
they are in force, and to be repealed, not by vio- 
lence, but by legal enactments. It is often better 
to submit to a bad law than to resort to the last 
law of nature — rebellion. A public opinion 
which we may deem to be erroneous, may some- 
times modify our conduct, where no principle is 
involved, and where we cannot control that public 
opinion. 

Beyond this let nothing force you to go. Here 
the law of God enforces its rule, and duty is dis- 
tinct. The highest obligation lies where religious 
duty marks your path. JSTever do wrong. Let 
no personal obligation be felt for a single moment 
in conflict with a sense of moral duty. No person 



202 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

living can ever confer upon you a favour, wliicli 
can give any claim to your service, at tlie expense 
of your moral principle. He, who would ask it, 
forfeits everything, which his benefaction might 
otherwise claim. 



FEMALE EDUCATION. 203 



LETTEK XXXIII. 

FEMALE EDUCATION. 

My DEAR Children", — Considered in our social 
relations, female influence is so paramount in its 
action, and so important in its results on every 
lasting interest of society, that no system of fe- 
male education or duty can be suitably prescribed 
without a constant regard to that influence. 

We are so constituted by nature, the very struc- 
ture of our being is such, that the destiny of the 
race is instrumentally at the disposal of the weak- 
er sex. This has been verified from the history 
of Eden to the present time. Society ever has 
been, and now is, and always will be, just what 
female character makes it, or permits it to be. 
Many philosophical ' causes might be adduced to 
show how this influence exists, but the fact is all 
I wish to advert to, in order to bring that fact 
into connection with the subject of female edu- 
cation. 

The place which woman occupies, and the in- 
fluence she exerts, must be considered before we 
can determine what her education should be, or 



204 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

what her proper duties are. She stands properly 
at the head of the race, and starts every new gen- 
eration in their course. Her tempers, sentiments, 
and habits, are the first which come under the 
cognizance of infancy or childhood. They are, 
indeed, interwoven with our earliest actions, while 
those actions are almost involuntary or imitative. 
The sons and daughters receive their mother's ad- 
vice as the highest law. The husband regards her 
heart as the hallowed depository of all that is 
pure, and society receives its laws from her sense 
of propriety or of right. Every daughter and 
son, every confiding husband, and every man can 
testify to the controlling influence of the mother, 
the wife, the sister, the female in society, placed 
as its presiding ornament, and dictating its com- 
mon laws. 

Here, then, in the place she is to occupy, and in 
the influence she is to exert, we are to look for the 
true reasons which should direct the education of 
females, and determine what it should be. 

First, she is to occupy the place, and exert the 
influence of a mother. I speak now of the race. 
Here, under divine appointment, she applies the 
plastic hand to a moral and intellectual substance, 
at its starting point for eternity. None will deny 
that the children of every family take their cha- 
racter principally from the mother of that family. 
Through life, they yield fruit according to thq 



FEMALE EDUCATION. 205 

seed sown, tlie character imprinted in tlie nursery 
and in the parlour. Through eternity they retain 
this character. What kind of education can qua- 
lify her to discharge the arduous and responsible 
duties of such a situation ? If the physical na- 
ture of that child is disordered, the learned and 
skilful physician is called in to prescribe. To 
administer spiritual instruction and relief, requires 
the learning of a divine ; and the masters in in- 
tellectual philosophy alone are competent to its 
intellectual training. Here we see what sort of 
education that mother needs. She must know, 
and know intimately, the physical, intellectual, 
and moral nature of the being she educates, and 
be able to apply the principles of the true philo- 
sophy in the training of it. 

The influence of a mother's counsel and a mo- 
ther's care might be referred to, if additional sup- 
port were needed to af&rm this position. The mo- 
ther's hand laid upon the feverish temple, that 
kind hand is for ever remembered. That touch is 
felt as if there were an abiding impression made 
by it, perhaps through life. The moral instruc- 
tion she then whispered in the ear remains bright 
and impressive in memory's store-house. The 
looks of love or gentle reproof, of approbation or 
censure, exist like durable forms in the mind. 
The mother is ever before the mind ; and when 
the pride of intellect has transported the man in 
18 



206 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

maturity beyond the influence of even sound 
argument and rational conviction, he remembers 
the lessons of that mother and feels their truth. 
By a law of his nature, he is held by that mother's 
influence, and whenever he feels it, he becomes 
docile. I may here illustrate my remark by a re- 
ference to the testimony of the celebrated, witty, 
eccentric, and eminent John Eandolph. Through 
a life uncommonly various in public incident and 
honours, he said to a friend, " I should have been 
an infidel, had it not been for the influence ex- 
erted on me by my mother, as she taught me to 
kneel at her side, and fold my little hands, and 
say, ' Our Father who art in Heaven,' " &c. 

Similar results will be found, if we consider the 
power of female influence in all the other rela- 
tions of life, as a wife, a daughter, a sister, or a 
friend. She always exerts a great, often a control- 
ling influence. 

Look into families. Who regulates the terms 
of social intercourse? Who gives character to 
the conversation, and who prescribes laws there ? 
It is the mother, daughter, sister, the female mem- 
bers of the family. The husband, father, brother, 
the young men of every community, are influenced 
in every department of labour and of duty by a 
constant reference to the opinions, the approba- 
tion of those whom they may meet in the hallowed 
society of home. Here is the centre of influence. 



FEMALE EDUCATION. 207 

The man is brutal, wlio can see unmoved a tear 
on the cheek of an affectionate wife; who can 
willingly excite a blush for a father's wrong on a 
daughter's face, or wound a sister's confiding feel- 
ings, or trifle with a lady's frown. Glentlemen are 
accustomed to speak and act as they think will 
meet the approbation of female society. This 
fact shows at once the importance that the senti- 
ments of females should be such as to form a cor- 
rect standard of public opinion, and their conver- 
sation embrace a range of subjects worthy of the 
attention of men, of immortal men ; subjects 
suited to the great duties of life, the interests of 
an eternal life. 

The place, then, which the female occupies in 
society, and the influence she exerts, require the 
most complete moral and intellectual education to 
prepare her for her duties. She may not only 
" learn to read, and write, and cipher," but she 
ought to have her mind and character formed by 
whatever can adorn or give strength to the intel- 
lect. And why should she not? She has a 
whole life to live — why not spend it rationally ? 
She must always be doing something. The mind 
must think. Why may she not as well be wise 
as frivolous ? Why may she not as well be de- 
voted to literature as to fashion ? Why may not 
the conversation of mixed companies, which oc- 
cupies so large a share of our time and attention, 



208 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

be rational, literary, and improving, instead of 
being, as it too often is, vain, unprofitable, and dis- 
sipating ? 

Every view we can take of the bearing of fe- 
male influence on the character and destiny of our 
race, enforces the importance that female educa- 
tion should be of the most substantial kind. Ex- 
cept as a means of reaching after higher attain- 
ments, I think but little of a young lady's ability 
to paint a rose or mould a wax flower. I would 
rather see you able to analyze the flower itself, 
plucked in its season, fragrant with its native 
sweets, glowing with its native, inimitable colours, 
and enamel. I prize at a low rate the graces, 
which consist in exact and measured movements, 
performed in the mazy dance. I would have you 
cultivate a sound understanding, and quick sense 
of propriety in all your intercourse with society, 
in all your intercourse with yourselves. The 
character which will be thus formed under the in- 
fluence of a meek and quiet spirit, will recommend 
you to approbation, when every design of art will 
fail. 

I would not have a lady inattentive to her 
person, much less neglectful of the ordinary 
forms of social intercourse. But I give it to you 
as the deliberate result of my observation on so- 
ciety, that true grace of personal manner, so far 
as that is a subject of education, depends far more 



FEMALE EDUCATION. 209 

on a correct sense of propriety, and on intellec- 
tual education, than on any physical training of 
the dancing-master, or rules of art. A ride on 
horseback, or a botanical ramble, or a walk in the 
fresh air of the early morning, or even the neces- 
sary effort to put your own room in order be- 
fore you leave it, furnish a more uniform and 
safer exercise, uniting the " utile cum dulci^'^ the 
pleasant and profitable, than all the physical dis- 
cipline which can result from mere pleasure or 
constraint. I would rather see you able to cook 
well a penny loaf, or lead a charity enterprise, 
than to cut the " pigeon wing " in " measured mo- 
tion," or to dance a cotillion. 

A reference to the condition of females in so- 
ciety, is necessary to justify the manner in which 
I have directed your education. My object has 
been, here, to lead your minds to consider intelli- 
gently the subject of female education in its gene- 
ral bearing, that you may be prepared to apply 
principles to practical use, and be led to contribute 
your influence to the adoption of 'just notions of 
it. Whatever may contribute to elevate the stan- 
dard of female education, and to promote a pro- 
per influence, adds weight to a lever of tremendous 
power and lengthens its shaft. 
18* 



210 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XXXIV. 

EARLY EDUCATION. 

My dear Children-, — The reason why there 
are so many in maturity of years who can neither 
read with propriety, nor spell correctly, is, that 
this part of their education has been neglected 
until habits of inattention were confirmed, and 
the spelling-book was beneath their ambition. 
This part of elementary education being neglected, 
correctness will hardly be attained in anything 
else. 

Accuracy and facility in reading and spelling 
were among your earliest attainments. At the age 
of four years, this part of your education was 
completed. And what was done for you, every 
mother may do for every child. It is best and 
easiest done at this early age. Arithmetical accu- 
racy you acquired almost as early. Elementary 
arithmetic, on which are based all the higher and 
most abstruse calculations, belongs to the studies 
of childhood, and may, to some extent, be incor- 
porated with the amusements of the nursery. 
Children may as well amuse themselves with the 



EARLY EDUCATION. 211 

multiplication table, and in adding, subtracting, or 
dividing, as witb wax toys and marbles, and much 
better than with fairy stories and fiction. It is 
just as easy to give their books the charm of nov- 
elty and play-things, as to associate with these 
means of instruction the idea of pains and penal- 
ties. When children begin to think and reason, 
their taste is in a forming state, and it receives 
direction according to the objects presented to 
their attention. They will count their fingers with 
just as much pleasure as they roll a marble, and 
learn a psalm of David, or a ditty, with equal fa- 
cility. It belongs to the mother and those con- 
nected with the nursery to give direction to their 
minds, always active and acquisitive of whatever 
subjects are furnished to them. There is thought. 
It cannot be destroyed. But it may, to a great 
extent, be controlled, directed, and modified. 
And never so easily as at that point where its ac- 
tion commences, and its first direction is taken. 
If profitable and pious thoughts are not the most 
easily introduced, it is nevertheless practicable to 
interest the mind in objects that are useful, and, 
to a great extent, combine amusement with use- 
ful labour. 

Elementary geography and grammar also be- 
long to the studies of an early age. If their higher 
principles and collateral branches require a ma- 
ture understanding, yet these studies may be com- 



212 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

menced almost as early as cbildren begin to talk 
and think. Example, and use, and a few defini- 
tions early made familiar, will ensure to children a 
grammatical correctness, which philosophers, hav- 
ing been neglected in early life, have not been able 
afterwards to attain. A geographical map is a 
picture with which a child may become interested 
while he is instructed, and his habits of attention 
confirmed. 

With such a preparation in a judicious elemen- 
tary education, a young lady is prepared to enter 
profitably the boarding-school. If not thus pre- 
pared, she must spend at least one year after she 
enters, in these preparatory studies, or always feel 
embarrassed for want of them. 

Mental discipline is the first object to which all 
education should be directed in the management 
of children, and in the entire instruction of youth. 
Hence the importance that the mothers first, and 
all teachers who may come after her, should be 
well versed in the philosophy of the mind. The 
mental constitution is the same. Education, 
therefore, in every stage, is based on the same 
principles. How perfectly preposterous then to 
separate from these principles the education of fe- 
males, who exert the greatest influence on the 
whole character of our race ! How unnatural to 
subtract the severer studies from female education, 
while they are prescribed to the other sex ! If 



EARLY EDUCATION. 213 

the exact sciences and philosopliy are to be con- 
fined to oiie of tlie sexes, I do not hesitate to say, 
these studies should be excluded from the Col- 
lege, and given to the education of our daughters. 
And for the simple reason that they need them 
more to form their characters, and prepare them 
for their duties. 

The seat of power should be the source of a 
salutary and saving influence. This power we 
readily yield to our wives and daughters, and 
then cast into that fountain noxious drugs instead 
of a cleansing and wholesome influence. We 
award to them the control of vital interests, yet 
educate them rather to trifle than to preside over 
our public and private morals. I will not con- 
tribute to this grand mistake. 1 will neither flat- 
ter in you feelings which are capable of being in- 
flated with pride, nor trifle with responsibilities, 
which must rest upon you as educated and intelli- 
gent females. A just estimate of yourselves and 
your relations is necessary to prepare you for 
your duties and rewards. 



214 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XXXV. 

ELEMENTARY STUDIES, HABITS OF STUDY. 

My dear Children", — The elementary educa- 
tion of a female should always embrace a fair 
hand writing, facility in arithmetical calculations, 
book-keeping, and the common forms of business. 
If she may not be prepared to do business as a 
part of her appropriate duty, the importance of 
these qualifications is demonstrated in the fre- 
quency with which she is called by necessity to 
exercise them. These, added to an accurate know- 
ledge of her native tongue and geography, all 
thoroughly learned, form a basis of education on 
which every lady may build and practise so as to 
render herself useful, respectable, and truly inde- 
pendent. I say these thoroughly learned — for 
there are many young ladies who have passed 
through the classes, even where they have been 
thoroughly taught, almost as ignorant as before. 

There are several causes which will be found 
to be prolific, one or all of them, of this result. 
The most common, perhaps, is the great mistake 
of some young ladies in regard to the end they 



ELEMENTARY STUDIES, HABITS OF STUDY. 215 

were made for, and tlie realities of future life. 
They are much indulged, and think they shall al- 
ways be indulged. Under a parental sympathy 
they are protected, and never reflect that there are 
any to be met with, who will not feel it a priv 
ilege and duty to protect them. To provide for 
themselves, therefore, or depend on their own re- 
sources, is what they never learn, never practise. 
They spend their appointed time at school, eager 
to return to an indulgent home. It is no priv- 
ilege to study, and, for a female, it is thought 
to be quite incongruous to study hard. Thus a 
habit of idleness is easily cherished. Time is 
wasted. A stolen glance at the text-book, or 
the aid of a more diligent classmate whispering 
in the ear what is uttered in parrot recitation, 
passes them, hesitating, blushing, and blundering, 
through their routine of tiresome study, until 
the quarter ends, a brother comes, pays the bills, 
and takes the young lady home with her educa- 
tion finished, but with no certain ideas, and with 
no serious conviction that life is anything to 
her but a summer's day, a "season's glitter.'* 
Many young ladies are never taught to consider, 
and therefore never learn, that the realities of 
life belong to them. To be waited on, flattered, 
and caressed, is all they have experienced, and, 
as this pleases them very well, it is all they care 
to expect. How sad the disappointment, when it 



216 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

comes ! And come it must, if deatli do not inter- 
terpose to prevent. 

I would have you provide for what may come. 
Be prepared for the worst, and then you will be 
prepared for all else, as the greater includes the 
less. I have endeavoured, therefore, to adapt 
your education to the place assigned you in prov- 
idence, to consult utility in the plan, and thor- 
oughness in the whole. Always feel that your 
present duties are part of the labours of life ; 
that nothing can be slighted or carelessly done 
without afiecting great and lasting interests. Be 
laborious, be thorough, be accurate, inquisitive, 
persevering. 

Be laborious. Diligence is a duty imposed on 
all. Most persons find themselves finally forced 
to it. It is a contradiction of nature to affect 
perpetual leisure, and despise employment. She 
who attempts it, will soon become the slave of 
slaves. 

Be thorough and accurate. What is well done 
is twice done. This is true, without a figure. 
What is not done well, needs soon to be done 
again. What is well done does not soon come to 
repairs. In study, this is especially true. The 
scholar of feeble effort and superficial habit is not 
certain that he knows anything. If called to the 
exercise of his learning, he blushes, stammers, 
hangs his head, guesses, is not certain, and as he 



ELEMENTARY STUDIES, HABITS OF STUDY. 217 

never depends on himself, can never be depended 
on by others. But he who has once thoroughly 
acquired the principles of a science, is ready to 
apply those principles with confidence and suc- 
cess ; goes fearlessly forward ; is sensible he is 
acquainted with the ground, or can explore it. 
He is not, therefore, easily disconcerted. He 
speaks confidently and acts decidedly where the 
nature of the subject admits of certainty, and if 
it is doubtful in itself, he does not easily betray 
his ignorance b}'' assuming a confident manner, or 
affecting what he does not understand. 

Endeavour to know with certainty whatever 
you undertake to investigate, whatever you ven- 
ture to act upon, especially whatever you profess 
to teach to others. How necessary this is in the 
most important matters ! How necessary in per- 
sonal religion, where a fatal mistake is final ruin ; 
yet as we lay the foundation so shall we meet 
the storm ! He that is unjust in the least will be 
unjust also in much. If we treat our ordinary 
duties loosely, we shall be likely to carry the 
same defective manner into the most serious, the 
most sacred, into our eternal interest. 

Be inquisitive, not intermeddling. Never be 
ashamed to ask a question unless it be improper 
in itself, or your ignorance is the result of your 
idleness or neglect. Even then you ought to be 
more ashamed to remain in ignorance than to ask 
19 



218 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

a question. Questions are the keys of know- 
ledge. Those who use them most frequently will 
find the greatest treasures, and be able to appro- 
priate them. 

Be persevering. Never leave a subject until 
you understand it. Examine and continue your 
examinations on everything you fail to under- 
stand, and which deserves your effort. Never 
yield to difficulties merely because they are diffi- 
culties. These may be overcome, and if we are 
easily diverted by them we shall fail in everything, 
for what subject is entirely divested of them ? 



COURSE OF STUDY — MENTAL DISCIPLINE. 219 



LETTER XXXVI. 

COURSE OF STUDY — MENTAL DISCIPLINE. 

My dear Children, — Among the best labour- 
saving expedients, whether in study or business, 
is a thorough habit of judicious classification. 
Reduce everything to system, whether you are en- 
gaged in study, in labour, or mere amusement. 
This habit once acquired, will enter into every 
department of life. It will regulate a young 
lady's toilet, as well as arrange the business of a 
Minister of State, and, in its measure, be as con- 
venient and useful in the one as the other. Begin 
it early. Practise it in everything. It has been 
taught you in the nursery, and by maternal exam- 
ple. It constitutes a part of that mental disci- 
pline, to which I have already alluded, and which 
has been too much overlooked in female educa- 
tion. The attention of females in a course of edu- 
cation has been directed too much to mere accom- 
plishment in what is superficial, light and pleasing. 
Hence vanity, trifling and useless ornament, have 
come of a taste thus formed. Hence the ancient 
imputation which has passed into a proverb, " va- 
riwm et mutabile semper feminay 



220 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

Mental discipline is the thing — the great mate- 
rial in education. Acquisition is its end. That 
follows the education of the mind, as the eflect the 
cause. Mental discipline, then, is education. It 
is the power to acquire knowledge, and convert 
the acquisition to the most productive effect. It 
is an unfailing capital, in itself a productive prin- 
ciple, which may be used at pleasure. 

The education of a young lady is often made to 
consist of a few definitions or ideas, learned by 
rote, and floating in the mind without any form^ 
arrangement, or symmetry of parts. In such a 
course, she could never have been interested, nor 
can she be profited by the results. What if she 
has a few ideas on botany, mineralogy, ethics, and 
astronomy, and the whole circle of liberal study 
and the arts. She cannot converse on either, nor 
convert her knowledge to any useful practical pur- 
pose. If, as a housewife, her bread has become 
sour in the rising, she will not know how to apply 
an antagonist principle to restore it ; if her dress 
is soiled by carelessness, or accident, she will be 
■unable to give the faded silk its lustre. The 
bread must be thrown away, and a new dress pro^ 
vided. Eemember education is designed for prac 
tical purposes, and it consists of principles which 
are worthless unless in some way applicable to 
common life. In this application it will often en- 
able the well taught housewife to save a joint which 



COUESE OF STUDY — MENTAL DISCIPLINE. 221 

seemed almost unfit for the table, and sometimes 
to remodel an old dress, where prodigality or 
ignorance resorts to a new purchase. 

The powers of the mind, like other powers, like 
the mechanical powers, if you please to take the 
comparison, must be used skilfully to produce 
their best effect. We must learn what they are, 
and how to direct them — then they may become 
effective. We may employ them extensively, and 
gather something worth preserving from every 
body and everything we meet. Judicious mental 
discipline forms an acquisitive mind, which, as it 
is always accumulating, must, at length, become 
learned. By the resolution of everything into its 
simple or elementary parts, it learns most easily 
its qualities, and comprehends the whole at the 
least possible expense of labour. Genius itself is 
but the power to " analyze and combine, am- 
plify and animate." Thus, by a judicious educa- 
tion, if genius be not created, it is sometimes 
surpassed. 

When it is considered how extensively the fe- 
male part of the family is connected with the 
principal expenditures, how much they may aid 
in every system of retrenchment or saving, we 
may see how much better is learning than ignor- 
ance, and how much it affects all the great inter- 
ests of the family through the wife and daughters. 
Some of the most elegantly neat and best dressed 
19* 



22^ DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

ladies of my acquaintance have limited tlie an- 
nual expense of their wardrobe to fifty dollars ; 
and I have known others who appeared to less 
advantage with an expenditure of five hundred. 
The financial expense of families decides, in a 
great degree, the wealth of a nation. Female 
education, therefore, should be directed to this 
important consideration, and all ought to be taught 
how to calculate, to keep their own accounts, and 
estimate the value of a dollar. This can be se- 
cured only by a plan of education, which shall effect 
the due cultivation of all the intellectual powers, 
and subject them to a thorough discipline, which 
shall lead a female to the choice of the useful, and 
the rejection of the vain, useless, or immoral. 
How else can she be taught to feel the responsi- 
bility which lies connected with pecuniary expen- 
diture, both as it regards the ability of her father 
or husband, and as it respects the calls of bene- 
volence and charity ? How else can she be ex- 
pected to use money under a due sense of moral 
duty, or with honest regard to all other claims on 
the funds she appropriates ? Moral education de- 
pends intimately on mental discipline. Without 
the latter, moral decisions are liable to be capri- 
cious and partial. As mental discipline gives sta- 
bility to character, it effects, if not the moral con- 
stitution, the firmness and energy of moral action. 
Instead, therefore, of passing a young lady 



COUESE OF STUDY — MENTAL DISCIPLINE. 223 

from the elementary to the ornamental branches 
of education, she should proceed to the severer 
studies in the exact sciences. Geometry and al- 
gebra should, by all means, form a part of a lib- 
eral education for a young lady. I have seen an 
almost entire change wrought in the mental hab- 
its of a young lady by the study of Euclid. This 
science cannot be prosecuted without bringing 
the reasoning and thinking powers to an active 
and well balanced labour. The lesson cannot be 
recited unless it is understood. There is no col- 
lusion. Nothing but study, close study, hard 
study can avail. Everything is distinctly marked. 
All is demonstration. It is known, or it is not 
known. The scholar is approved in her reci- 
tation, or shrinks into blushes and self-condemna- 
tion. 

When the preparatory steps have been taken, 
algebra becomes an amusement. I do not mean to 
say it presents no difficulties, but its difficulties are 
not insuperable, and they furnish, in their succes- 
sive subjugation, the constant pleasure of conquest* 
Like a traveller ascending a mountain, the dil- 
igent scholar in geometry and algebra goes from 
height to height, and from cliff to cliff, rewarded 
for every successive effort by a purer sky, a wider 
survey, and multiplying forms of beauty. At 
length he passes the regions of ordinary clouds, 
and rejoices in a sunshine unknown to the hum- 



224 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

ble inhabitant of the vale beneath. If serenity 
of mind can be found short of moral causes, it 
must be the boon of the successful scholar, resting 
in triumph on the heights, or at the summit of 
the hill of science, self-conscious of his superior^ 
ity, the reward of knowledge, enterprise, and per- 
severing labour. Such is the geometrician at the 
end of his demonstration ; the algebraist with 
his problem solved; the successful scholar in. 
every step of his progress. 

While I would include geometry and algebra 
in the ordinary course of female education, I do 
not think the higher branches of pure mathematics 
should be commonly attempted. But natural 
philosophy and astronomy should not be omitted. 
They embrace, we may say, the geometry of the 
known universe. This is the true field of devo- 
tion, and nowhere but at the cross can be found 
equal illustrations of the transcendent attributes 
of God. If you may not sit down to the Principia 
of Newton, nor attempt to solve the problems he 
left unsolved, you may yet demonstrate the theory 
of the universe, and without the power of pro- 
phecy calculate an eclipse, and foretell some of the 
most wonderful changes in nature. You may 
admire God in his works, above the reach of 
vulgar minds. You may rise to a new field of; 
devotion, and find new motives of gratitude and 
love. 



COUKSE OF STUDY — MENTAL DISCIPLINE. 225 

Intellectual and moral philosophy will come 
in of course, and, in my opinion, belong to a 
much earlier stage in education than is commonly 
assigned to them. "We ought to know what can 
be known of the mind as early as we are capable 
of understanding it, and the elements of moral 
science belong to the first studies. Its higher 
principles should be taught pari passu with the 
ability to comprehend. Ehetoric and the higher 
principles of grammar, together with history, 
ancient and modern, I would refer to a later per- 
iod. The natural sciences belong to common life 
and common education. I would have you good 
botanists, and not ignorant of chemistry and min- 
eralogy. Geology should take enough of your 
attention to enable you to understand the struc- 
ture of the earth and its general features. This 
is of practical importance, and almost necessary 
to an intelligent acquaintance with history and 
geography. This is a department where super- 
ficial study is impossible. Whatever you under- 
stand will be a valuable possession, although it 
*may be of small amount. Like gold, it is good 
in its kind, and can be converted to a valuable pur- 
pose, although you may have but a small portion. 
The study of language is important, both for 
practical utility, and also for its influence on men- 
tal discipline. While its grammatical structure 
is simple and easily comprehended, its philoso- 



226 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

phical principles are fitted to exercise tlae higher 
intellectual operations. Its principles are the 
same in every dialect ; and once understood, they 
are of universal application. The Latin I con- 
sider necessary to a liberal female education, very 
useful, and by all means to be embraced in an ex- 
tended course. It is called a dead language, and 
yet it is more universally known among the lite- 
rati than any other. Besides its utility, the study 
of it constitutes a mental exercise of great value. 
If we except the Grreek, it is the most complete 
in its structure, and the most varied in its adapta- 
tions to communicate thought, if not more copious 
in its resources, than any other language. If 
practicable, I desire also that you should read 
the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures ; I would 
have you aim at this attainment, not so much for 
the valuable addition it would make to your stock 
of learning, as for the pleasure and profit of read- 
ing the Bible in its original languages. 

Music is now considered a necessary part of a 
finished education for females. I think it should 
be so considered. First, vocal music, which is* 
always the best, and the foundation of all other. 
Cultivate it, not merely, nor principally as an ac- 
complishment, nor as an amusement, but as a sci- 
ence, and for its moral effect, as a means of prais- 
ing God and awakening devotion. Learn to sing 
well if you can. Learn to play well, especially on 



COUESE OF STUDY — MENTAL DISCIPLINE. 227 

the organ and piano. Praise God with the voice, 
and in the united harmony of every sound. 

Drawing and painting I do not assign to the 
class of mere accomplishments. They are studies 
of real utility. Familiar practice in linear design, 
perspective, and landscape painting, promotes ha- 
bits of attention and discrimination of great im- 
portance in practical life. She who draws with 
her pencil the outline of an edifice, Avill ever af- 
terwards have her attention awakened to criticise 
the architectural proportions of other buildings. 
If she attempt a landscape, or pencil a rose, she 
will, in that effort, direct her attention with great- 
er minuteness of discrimination to every flower 
she plucks, to every scene of nature. This is the 
great practical benefit of drawing and painting-— 
not so much to furnish amusement, as to cultivate 
a taste and improve a faculty. 

There are some other branches of female educa- 
tion, which I pass over as incidental. They may 
be omitted without material injary, and the culti- 
vation of them should depend on circumstances 
of time, talent, genius, and facilities.' Such is al- 
most all, which is called "fancy work." I would 
not stifle a genius in an attempt to avoid them, 
nor force a taste. Let nature dictate. 



228 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XXXYII. 
ON BEADING. 

My dear Children, — Miscellaneous reading 
will occupy but little of your attention, while en- 
gaged in a course of study at school. Still you 
will find some time to read, and your selection of 
books is a matter of some importance, since it 
will strongly influence your taste, and style, and 
modes of thinking. Some remarks, then, on read- 
ing, may be of use to you. I shall limit these re- 
marks rather to your present necessities than 
attempt to embrace a full course of reading, 
which may be deemed suitable at a future 
time. In what I now say, however, I shall strike 
the outline of an entire course, and if I should 
never return to the subject again, you may find in 
the advice of these letters the principles which 
ghould direct you in all your reading. 

Place, then, at the head of your library, the 
Bible. Let it lie on your centre table, place a 
copy of it in your sleeping chamber, and in your 
closet. Let a place be found for it in your reti- 
cule. Travel with it. What was so beautifully 



ON" READING. 229 

and compreliensively said by Cicero of literary 
pursuits in general, may well be confined in strict- 
ness and truth to Biblical studies : " Other stu- 
dies are suited neither to all times, ages, nor 
places. These improve youth, render old age 
pleasant, adorn prosperity, furnish a refuge and 
consolation in adversity, make home delightful, 
do not encumber us abroad, remain with us day 
and night, travel with us, and animate the solitude 
of the country."^ 

In Biblical studies I embrace not only the read- 
ing of the Bible in the manner I have already 
defined for devotional purposes, but the examina- 
tion of its claims, both external and internal, to 
inspiration, its critical analysis, comparison, and 
interpretation. In fine, I include what is com- 
monly embraced in Biblical literature and criti- 
cism. This branch of study belongs not only to 
the Theological Seminary and Biblical student, it 
is profitable for every one as far as means and lei- 
sure to pursue it are furnished. These collec- 
tions are well worthy of the eulogium expressed 
by Cicero, on the studies of poetry and the arts. 

* Cieero. Orat. pro A. Liciuio Archia Poeta. 

Nam ceterae neque temporiim sunt, neque getatum omnium, 
neque locorum ; haec studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem 
oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugiura ac solatium 
prsebent ; delectant domi, nee impediuut foris ; pernoctant no- 
biscum, peregTiuao':ur, rusticantur. 
20 



230 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

If you seek for variety, elegance, or the sublime 
in composition, it is there. There is the most im- 
portant and authentic history, and all that can 
charm in story and song. There is every variety 
of composition, from the simple language of child- 
hood to the deepest pathos and the highest strains 
of eloquence, and the inspirations of poetry. 
There is matter for deep research, a mine of 
wealth, which the scholar, the historian, and critic, 
may never exhaust, and yet there is a soil rich 
with food for infant minds, and suited to every 
taste. The profane respect it ; the enlightened in- 
fidel commends its morality ; the scholar admires 
its learning ; it instructs the humblest mind ; all 
pay it homage. Eead the Bible. Make it your 
manual, and if you aspire to investigate it in its 
original languages, you shall have my approbation 
and assistance. We recede from the fountain ^ as 
translations of the original are relied on. 

Auxiliary to the Bible,t make use of the most 
approved commentaries without regard to sect or 
denomination, taking care always to deduce your 
own opinion from the text, with their help, and 
never go to them for your opinion. 

Next to the Bible, and the helps necessary to a 
critical examination of it, let your reading em- 

* Hebroei bibunt fontes, Graeci rivos, nos paludes. 
t " Lege Biblia, relege Biblia, repete, iterum et saepe, 
Biblia." 



ON KEADING. 231 

brace religious biography, and the memoirs of 
pious men and women. Here you see examples 
of real life, and that kind of experience which 
can most effectually be converted by us to prac- 
tical utility. We read the trials, labours, discou- 
ragements, and triumphs of the saints. Their di- 
aries and records of personal experience are made 
under such circumstances, that we can place im- 
plicit confidence in them. They serve as lights 
and shades to direct our path, or warn us of dan- 
gers. Men, acting under the controlling influence 
of pride, ambition, or selfishness, cannot have our 
confidence, and their experience furnishes to us no 
safe and wholesome lesson. But here we are let 
into the inner temple, and read in the private 
diaries of good men their secret thoughts and in- 
most trials, which were never uttered to human 
ear. The psalms of David have something of 
this character, and are therefore peculiarly suited 
to aid in closet devotions and private meditations. 



232 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL, 



LETTER XXXYIII. 

ON READING. 

My dear Children, — As tliis is a book-making 
age, many books of different cbaracters will be 
thrown in your way. Let me give you some 
rules for trying their claims to your attentive 
reading. " Some books," says Lord Bacon, " are 
only to be tasted, others to be swallowed whole, 
others to be masticated and digested," and I will 
add, others should not be touched. Treat them as 
you do noxious plants. Some show the charac- 
teristics of the poisonous family in their bud 
and blossom. Their very foliage betrays them. 
Their leaves are not only bitter to the taste, they 
offend every sense. Others conceal their virus, 
and never betray it but in its fatal effects. It is 
grateful to the eye, taste and smell, but rankles in 
the blood, inflames the passions, subjugates the 
affections, kills the soul. 

Sometimes the title page will indicate truly the 
character of the work. Like all other professions, 
however, this may be deceptive. The table of 
contents will generally give you a clue to a true 



ON BEADING. 233 

estimate of what follows. The preface may fur- 
nish additional aid. After consulting these, en- 
deavour to find in the general divisions, some dis- 
tinct propositions, which are the author's starting 
points. Having proceeded thus far, you may of- 
ten be possessed of the true merits of the work, 
and decide without farther waste of time, whether 
it should be studied, only cursorily perused, or 
wholly rejected. 

Whenever you take up a book, before you pro- 
ceed to read it, endeavour to know something of 
the author. All are human, and every production 
will be found to be influenced by human frailties. 
Does he call on you to receive facts ? Even these 
facts may be stated with greater or less confidence, 
as his sympathies, or partialities, or prejudices, 
may dictate. Does he reason on those facts ? 
His reasonings will be liable to a similar influence. 
Some of the best writings must be received with 
these abatements or cautions. For instance, 
among the best historians are reckoned Hume aud 
Gibbon. But their bitter enmity to religion is 
often insidiously infused into the " History of 
England," and the " Decline and Fall of the Eo- 
man Empire." As the strongest prejudices gener- 
ally prevail on religion and politics, you should 
seek especially to know the author's views on 
these subjects. 

You will, of course, devote a portion of time to 
20* 



234 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL. 

reading during life. The rule, wliicli I would 
prescribe for you, after wliat I have already said, 
is this : read what is most useful, and what will 
prepare you best for the end of life by exciting a 
diligent and conscientious discharge of its duties. 
You should not be ignorant of the different classes 
of composition, in the different departments of 
learning. But there are many books, and perhaps 
this includes the largest share, that are either di- 
rectly pernicious, or otherwise unworthy of your 
attention. You cannot read all. Make, there- 
fore, a judicious selection. Waste as little time 
as possible on those which are not positively 
good. 

In regard to the comparative claims of different 
departments of reading, good sense, with a good 
education, is better than any written rules to di- 
rect. A well balanced education will enable any 
one to form her own decision, and I prefer to 
place you on your own judgment, rather than in- 
dulge you in a constant dependence by furnishing 
a detail which ought to exercise your own dili- 
gent investigation. It is necessary to a vigorous 
and healthy action of the mind, that it be left 
sometimes to its own independent choice. In the 
order of subjects, history will follow naturally 
after biography. Treatises on science, especially 
moral and intellectual, will be taken up in connec- 
tion with the studies to which they respectively 



ON BEADING. 235 

belong. Miscellaneous works must find their 
appropriate place amid the settled currents and es- 
tablished outlines of a systematic course. A few- 
select periodicals should furnish you with a 
" bird's eye view" of the literature and passing 
news of the day. We have several little works 
well suited to female reading, while there are others 
professedly designed for them, which I would have 
you especially avoid. 

I would not have you to become politicians, 
nor affect to volunteer grave opinions on political 
subjects. Yet I would not have you ignorant of 
passing political events, nor even of general poli- 
tics, so far as your leisure may enable you to em- 
brace the subject incidentally in your studies. A 
lady may appear amiable and modest in mani- 
festing an interest in everything which affects the 
public weal, but always awkward and beyond her 
sex, when debating the principles of politics, or 
mingling in party feuds. 

After what I have said, it would be superfluous 
for me to go into a laboured disquisition on. 
novels, and the claims of that large class of read- 
ing to your attention. Give them the place they 
deserve. With the Bible at the head of your li- 
brary, and eternity in prospect, and the duties of 
the present life pressing upon you, give to the 
reading of novels that portion of time and atten- 
tion which your own good sense will dictate ; and 



286 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

if this will not lead you to a wise decision, I am 
sure that decision is beyond the reach of any ar- 
gument I can add. You are rational, moral, im- 
mortal, now concerned with the realities of life, 
soon to answer for the manner in which you have 
performed its sober duties. Let these weighty 
truths ever influence your decisions and give di- 
rection to your energies. 



ON READING. 237 



LETTER XXXIX. 

ON READING. 

My dear Children, — The library and reading 
of a young lady should be very select. Eemern- 
ber your books are your companions, your famil- 
iar, retired, confidential companions. Be careful, 
then, in the selection of them as you would in 
the choice of living associates. Take to your 
companionship none who are not worthy of your 
confidence. They will have their influence upon 
you. If you meet them in company, you may 
not be called upon to spurn them. That might 
appear like affectation. But I should be sorry to 
find you well acquainted with many authors, 
whose works are at this day often found in good 
company. I do not see why it is necessary, that, 
in order to be literary, we should be familiar with 
all authors of all kinds, any more than in order 
to know human nature, we should be familiar 
with the low and vicious. We may know what 
they are without taking them to our society ; and 
that knowledge of their character should exclude 
them from familiarity. If I see certain character- 



2S8 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

istics in a female, I may understand her character 
without going to her house, which is "the way 
to hell." So, you may be sufficiently well ac- 
quainted with some authors by reading their title 
page, or at most, by learning their first proposi- 
tion. 

Life is short. There are good books enough 
to fill up all your time. Why, then, squander 
half of it oa trifles? When you can no longer 
find good company, there will be time enough to 
parley with the bad — and then, if you are wise, 
you will live alone, rather than receive such into 
your society. 

Among the books to be avoided, I place first 
and foremost Byron's Works. They cannot be 
read without mental pollution. It is impossible, 
constituted as we are, to read them, and escape 
from a train of associations most demoralizing 
and pernicious. After having embraced the temp- 
ter, we struggle in vain to extricate ourselves. 
He has insinuated himself imperceptibly into our 
bosoms, breathed upon the sanctuary of our de- 
Totions, and hung pictures upon the walls we can 
never obliterate nor remove. To the mind that 
has read Don Juan, there are the images naked 
in their deformity ; and although they may be 
washed away at the gate of heaven, there is no 
controlling power in fallen man to relieve him 
from the spectre. 



ON READING. 239 

Care cannot be too diligently bestowed to cbas- 
ten that prudery of a jealous temper, which is 
ever on the alert for causes of offence, and that 
prurient imagination which gives the worst con- 
struction to everything seen and heard. Where 
no offence is meant, we should be slow to take it, 
as a prompt resentment of designed insult is th6^' 
only proper vindication which a lady can make 
of her own rights. There is much expressiveness 
in the sentiment of the apostle — "to the pure, 
all things are pure." This, however, cannot alter, 
and was not intended to alter, the nature of things. ■ 
While we "think no evil," even unworthy allu- 
sions will pass unnoticed and innoxious ; but 
there are some forms and some expressions which 
it would be the affectation of insensibility to dis- 
regard, as it would palpably confound the ne- 
cessary distinctions between virtue and vice. This 
holds true of the works of Byron. 

But Byron is brilliant, splendid, glowing with 
the inspirations of poetry. Yes, and that creates 
the illusion. Let his vulgar stories be told in 
doggerel, or plain prose English, and they would 
disgust. But Byron encircles them with bril- 
liants, covers them with diamonds, dissolves the 
dose, and we take it and die ! 

I have read Don Juan, and therefore can advise 
you. I do advise you to avoid it as you would 
avoid a moral pestilence. It is no relief to say 



24:0 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

that all tis works are not equally injurious, or 
that some are harmless, or even excellent. When 
I see an expurgated edition of Byron's works, 
worthy of a young lady's perusal, I will inform 
you. But I shall by no means recommend you 
to a house of bad character, because you may 
ftaeet with some respectable people there. In the 
best society, you may encounter unworthy mem- 
bers, but there they are controlled. Here they 
exercise authority, and their influence is para- 
mount. I say, therefore, " Avoid it ; pass not by 
it : turn from it, and pass away." 

In its moral influence, I regard this as deci- 
dedly the worst book in the English language. 
There is no composition of palpable vulgarity, but 
carries along with it its own materials to disgust. 
But this is an insidious poison. Constellations 
of wit, and brilliant coruscations of genius, 
breathed out and afflated by the inspirations of 
poetry, present a burning firmament of images, to 
attract and bewilder. While the sexes in their 
ardour and young life are thus captivated and ab- 
sorbed, the arch enemy is employed in kindling 
raging fires in the soul, and infusing moral poison 
into the life-blood. The panorama vanishes — but 
these fires live, and perhaps it is not within the 
influence of ordinary grace to remove, in this life, 
the smouldering ashes, even where these raging 
fires may, by a divine power, have been extin- 



ON READING. 241 

guislied. But in one, whose principles are not 
fixed, whose habits are unformed, they uproot the 
foundations, and sweep over all that is fair, with 
the desolating besom of destruction, Byron has 
the power to command the feelings of his readers 
in favour of his hero, and, make the moral dis- 
tinctions we will, we wish that hero success. He 
is always made successful. But Byron's hero is 
a villain of the deepest dye, and here we are con- 
ducted to the true moral of his most fascinating 
pieces. 

If the fire and energy of Byron's genius could 
have been exerted under the influence of that di- 
vine principle which warmed the heart of the 
" royal psalmist," instead of casting fire-brands into 
the citadel of civil, social, and domestic life, he 
might have kindled the altar of our sacrifice, and 
with a wing, I had almost said, such as minister- 
ing angels use, might have fanned the flame of our 
devotion. But shall we embrace the fallen angel, 
because he is an angel still ? There is Watts, a 
heavenly muse. There is Cowper, whose lyre is 
touched by the gentle breezes of heaven, and 
pours angelic strains. There is Henry Kirke 
White, though a star in the distance, bright, mild 
and propitious. There are Milton, Pollock, Mont- 
gomery, Thomas Campbell, Wordsworth, Thom- 
son, and Heber ; and I may mention of your own 

sex, Hemans, Sigourney and Jane Taylor, worthy 
21 



242 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

of your patronage, poetic, pure, evangelical. We 
need not go to the infernal regions for genius. It 
is found in tlie courts above. And while there 
are treasures of chaste and exalted literature un- 
tried and inexhaustible, I beg you to leave By- 
ron, and Tom Moore, and even Pope, unexpurga- 
ted, to occupy the shelves of others, and to cor- 
rupt the morals of those, who are left to them. 



PRACTICAL ADVICE. 243 



LETTER XL. 

PRACTICAL ADVICE. 

My dear Children", — As you are advancing 
to maturity, and now begin to mingle with mixed 
society, allow me to throw into a narrow compass 
some practical rules and maxims which you may 
find of great use, and the importance of which 
you will begin immediately to feel. 

In the first place, I will say then, endeavour 
always to look at things as they are. Avoid vi- 
sionary views. You will always have to do with 
the realities of life. All, therefore, which magni- 
fies or diminishes things beyond reality, unfits the 
mind for safe and efficient action. Avoid, there- 
fore, all prejudice, passion, strong party feeling, 
personal hatred, a spirit of envy, malice, or re- 
venge, which always unfit the mind to judge 
soberly and truly. Every unnatural excitement 
produces this effect, and this may not only come 
of intemperance, but from any one of the sources 
just enumerated. In a state of excitement, things 
are made to appear different from what they 
really are, and if, under the illusion, you are not 



244 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

urged on to higli crimes, you may do some indis- 
creet act, which will embitter life, and require to 
be repented of. 

Never permit yourselves to be out of humour, 
especially with a dumb animal, or inanimate ob- 
ject. The brute acts from impulse or instinct, 
and when you act from passion, you put yourself 
on a level with him. Consider, too, that when 
you permit yourselves to be displeased with an in- 
animate object, you take a still bolder stand to 
act a more depraved part. You fight against 
Providence. Did you ever figure to yourselves 
Xerxes chastising the waves of the Hellespont ? 
I have sometimes wondered that scene has never, 
among other objects, employed the pencil of the 
painter. How pigmy -like Xerxes would appear 
in the picture, giving, with feeble voice, command 
to the elements, amid the roar of the angry Bos- 
phorus, lashing the shore and rolling its surges 
mountain high ! How puny his uplifted arm ap- 
plying the whip to chastise their insolence ! How 
contemptible, throwing the chains, which are im- 
mediately swallowed up by the element that bids 
defiance to his threats and rage ! Then to see him 
contending with the Almighty who rides on the 
whirlwind, and directs the storm, daring heaven 
to single combat! It is a subject which language 
imperfectly reaches, but I think it might be put 
apon canvass, and made to speak expressively. 



PRACTICAL ADVICE. 245 

Now wliat Xerxes was, ia his rage against the 
sea, you may consider a young lady to be, on a 
smaller scale, when she loses her temper, or frets 
against Providence. 

Eealities are what we have to meet. To know 
them is truth. To perform our duties under the 
government of God in every relation to that truth 
is religion. Avoid high wrought and extravagant 
feelings on every subject, even on religious sub- 
jects, except as truth leads the way, and that 
will ever make you sober, deliberate, concerned 
with things as they are. 

Speak always with candour and consideration. 
Indiscreet speech makes more work for repentance, 
with most persons, than overt and flagrant acts of 
error. It creates more wars than all other causes. 
It originates, probably, nine-tenths of all the per- 
sonal conflicts which occur. I have sometimes 
thought that if I could regulate my speech to ex- 
act propriety, I could easily regulate every other 
part of conduct. It is very easy to say a thing. 
But once said, it can never be recalled,"^ and we 
usually feel that it must be maintained. Most 
persons talk too much. How rare a virtue is si- 
lence I Still more rare, the man or woman who 
never speaks inopportunely, and always speaks 

* Semel emissum, volat irrevocabile verbuni. — Hor. 
" Our words are our own no longer than they remain un- 
spoken." 
21* 



246 DAUGHTEES AT SCHOOL. 

what ouglit to be spoken. You know how it is 

in experience. " Miss B said so," and that 

starts the ball. Lazy as many may be in ordinary 
duties, here is all activity. There are enough vol^ 
unteers to keep it in motion. It flies with acce- 
lerated velocity. And like a stone which the deli- 
cate touch of a single hand started from the top 
of a mountain, it soon acquires a force which no 
human power can resist. It bears down all in 
its way, and spreads desolation in its track. Be 
careful how you start these stones. While on 
the poise, they are in your power. Once moved, 
they soon become beyond control. So are words 
— little words. So may be a touch, a gentle touch, 
a pointing of the finger, or a cast of the eye. 
Such is the tongue among our members ; such is 
our conversation in society. If you learn to gov- 
ern the tongue, and regulate your speech, you 
gain a victory, and may avoid many conflicts. 

Be especially careful not to report in one far 
mily what you have heard said in another ; nor to 
one friend what may have been imprudently 
whispered to her disadvantage, except when truth 
and vital interests demand it. The tale bearer 
and informer is a mischief-maker, and although 
he may be listened to with earnestness, he cannot 
but be despised. 

In your social relations, avoid a suspicious 
temper ; yet presume on the friendship of no one. 



PRACTICAL ADVICE. 247 

Be always ready to grant all the favours you can, 
consistently with your duties to yourselves and 
others ; but never do favours on the supposition 
that others are equally ready to reciprocate them. 
If you commence otherwise, you will be painfully 
taught that a warm heart bestows its charities on 
a cold world. 

Be not too confiding. There is one inference 
which has done much injury. Because a man is 
regarded as a good man, it is therefore presumed 
that he will always do what is right. Let your 
own view of what is right be always higher au- 
thority than that of any mortal, whose opinion 
conflicts with your principles. 

If a particular friend offers you special favours, 
use them not too liberally. If he puts a favourite 
article at your disposal, the strength of his friend- 
ship may prove to be weak should you practise too 
freely on his indulgence. When a friend that you 
wish to retain offers special favours, it is well for 
you if you are not obliged to use them. 

Be indulgent toward the faults of others, severe 
towards your own. We are often impatient of 
the infirmities of others, forgetting that what in 
them offends us, may pertain, in a great degree, to 
ourselves. The same weak, and offensive, and 
erring natures pertain to all, and we are frail, 
feeble and offensive to others, wherein we often 
congratulate or excuse ourselves. 



248 • DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 



LETTER XLI. 

PRACTICAL ADVICE. 

My dear Children-, — Industry is a duty ex- 
pressly prescribed, and rendered necessary by 
our circumstances. A drone is offensive to nature, 
and worse tlian useless in society. The universal 
and necessary attendant of idleness is vice. In- 
dustry, therefore, should be formed to a habit. 
This done, like all other habits, it becomes a sec- 
ond nature. 

Be industrious, whether engaged in study, do- 
mestic duties, or devotion. Life is short. The 
much we have to do will press heavily on the 
heels of our dying hour, and hurry us unprepared 
into eternity, unless we are diligent to accomplish 
the work which belongs to time. " The works of 
the righteous follow them." In an important 
sense, this is true of all, since we shall be judged 
according to our works. Let this fearful annunci- 
ation influence you to diligence in those works, 
whose results you will be willing to meet at the 
judgment day. To be busily employed is some- 
times thought to be unworthy of a lady. I 



PRACTICAL ADVICE. 249 

never desire to see you such ladies, nor associ- 
ated with such. Aim to be something more than 
"playthings," and to do something more than 
play. 

Let your labours be directed to some useful 
purpose. Some ladies act as if it were their 
" being's end and aim" to be busy about trifles, 
and to trifle with everything, to trifle with the 
other sex, with money, with time, with life, with 
death, with God and eternity. "Be ye not like 
unto them." Be not willing to come to the close 
of life with the world no better for your having 
lived in it. Make life productive of a good end, 
by doing good both to yourselves and others. 
Keep that end in view, and let every day advance 
you towards it. 

" Mark that day lost, whose low descending sun 
Yiews from your hand no worthy action done." 

While you avoid idleness, take care, on the 
other hand, never to be in a hurry. Be deliber- 
ately diligent. " Haste makes waste." Do every 
thing with a calm and persevering temper. Those 
who never have any leisure often accomplish 
as little, and live to as little purpose, as others 
who live in idleness. Diligence in duty gains 
time, and gives us leisure to wait on our friends, 
or to relax in innocent amusement. I dislike to 
see a lady always so much engaged that she can- 
not see her friends. It is an affectation. Those 



250 DAUGHTERS AT SCHOOL. 

who do their duties in proper time and or- 
der will find leisure for all social and relative 
duties. 

You may easily gain leisure if you do earnestly 
what you do, do it at once, without delay, and 
withal do it well, that you may not need to do it 
again. Take time by the forelock. If you delay 
till to-morrow what can be done to-day, it will be 
crowded into company with other duties and pro- 
duce confusion. . Then comes hurry, and conse- 
quent loss. Thus the duty may never be 
done at all, and how important soever it may 
be, you must meet the consequences. To defer 
present duty is to decide that you will not do 
your duty. What belongs to the present hour 
is duty. Delay it, and who can measure the conse- 
quences ? 

Finish whatever you undertake. Acquire the 
habit of completing your business. Then you 
will be prepared for the next, and there will be a 
consistency and adaptation of parts. 

Should you leave your garments half finished, 
and throw them on in that imperfect state, how 
ridiculous would you appear before the public! 
Yet this is truly the attitude assumed by those 
persons who half perform their duties, and leave 
everything incomplete, except that the results are, 
in the last case, far the most serious and fatal. 
The first may expose us to present ridicule, but 



PEACTICAL ADVICE. 251 

tlie other will subject us to lasting shame, "confu- 
sion and contempt." 

Attempt great things. While you avoid vision- 
ary views, this rule will never be abused. In 
your sober senses, soberly employed, you will, of 
course, attempt what is practicable, and what is 
useful. You will not be disappointed. Diligence 
and perseverance in pursuit of practicable objects, 
■will result in acquisition. 

Never suffer discouragement. . A single failure, 

or any failure, may not be final. Persevere. 

" The worst prognostic of the darkest day, 
Live till to-morrow, may have passed away." 

If you do not succeed to your wishes, think 
little of it. Failure in ordinary objects is often 
better than success. If successful, avoid exulta- 
tion. That is often worse in its effects than fail- 
ure itself. A well balanced mind will go on in 
the performance of duty, as such. The results are 
of less importance than the duty. If we can 
never be happy but in success, and if nothing but 
success will satisfy us, we must be unhappy, for 
who is either always wise, or always successful ? 
Our happiness can be made to depend safely on 
nothing but the performance of duty. Take a 
young lady at school, let her be diligent in study, 
ambitious, and persevering, — but let her suspend 
her happiness entirely on a given measure of suc- 
cess, on the attainment of particular honours, on 
the premiums awarded to the best, and how uncer- 



252 DAUGHTEKS AT SCHOOL 

tain her victory ; how frail the tenure of her hap- 
piness ! If she fail to the end, she suffers the mor- 
tification of defeat after all the drudgery of her 
efforts. How different another, who has applied 
herself diligently to study as a duty, and been 
made happy all along in the performance of the 
duty itself! If she gains an honour, that is a 
contingent circumstance, adding to her sum of eur 
joyment, but not capable of destroying it, or of 
materially abridging it, though withheld. 

Happiness is not a plant of earthly growth. 1% 
strikes its root by the "tree of life," and thrives 
in stinted measure amid the thorns and briers, 
which have sprung vigorously under the curse. 
Those who seek it here, seek for " perpetual- sun- 
shine mid perpetual storms." We shall find it 
only in heaven. Be satisfied, then, with what is 
practicable. Look at things as they are. Eealize 
this is a world of trial. Be diligent in duty. 
Seek the satisfaction which will attend on a 
blameless life. Hope in God. Walk with him. 
Take up your cross. Bear it. Suffer under it. 
These trials will soon be over, and we shall meet 
each other — meet your little sister who has gone 
before — meet your dear mother — meet, a happy 
family in heaven. 



•25, i ^5 



Ji > 



